One More Song
by Dreams of Shadows
Summary: Second in JA series. I thought everything had gone back to normal, but then Loki turns up at my house and I find myself dragged back into the world of Avengers as he seeks to escape from remaining Chitauri forces. And now that I'm back will I want to leave?
1. Chapter 1

Months had passed since I'd returned home from an adventure that hadn't lasted even two weeks. As predicted I'd lost my job due to my 'unauthorised absence', but what I hadn't predicted was that nobody had even seemed to notice I'd gone. As far as they were concerned I was either ill, away or just turned antisocial. Everything else was the way it had been though, so my home had been exactly the same as when I left it and sometimes it felt as though it were trying to convince me that the whole episode hadn't happened.

I kept the photograph on me at all times, as a reminder that it had all happened and as something to cheer me up when I felt down.

I even kept Loki's knife, wearing it as a necklace seeing as it was small enough keeping it hidden beneath my top lest someone mistake me for a murderer or something.

Adjusting back to a normal life wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be- I felt like Amy and Rory did when they had a chance to experience normal life. It was surprisingly good. I soon got another job, caught up on all the fanfics that had been updated (I even published my own story on there) and started going out with friends again to the pub or the cinema. Heck, I even managed to get a date or two.

People would tell me that I had changed, that I seemed more alive and more energetic. They would ask me for my secret and I would just smirk at them and told them they'd never believe me. Of course that meant they had to come up with completely bizarre or rude ideas, as they always did whenever you didn't tell them something.

I should have known it wasn't going to last.

"Are you leaving now?" asked Lois, leaning on the counter with an expression of boredom. It was an extremely slow day today due to all the rain we were having, so we'd spent most of the time trying to find things to occupy ourselves with.

"Yeah, I've only got about five minutes left and the rains on a break for a moment," I replied, putting on my coat and shouldering my Joker messenger bag (I'm such a kid sometimes). "Knowing my look it would have started to rain as soon as my shift _actually_ ended."

"It might also decide to rain as soon as you get halfway down the street for payback," she pointed out, and I rolled my eyes. "But I'd take getting wet over this any day- I can count the number of customers we've had in here on one hand. Unfortunately I've got another hour to go before I'm free to leave."

Don't worry- I think Kevin takes the shift after me," I said, watching her eyes light up.

"Really?" she asked, sounding very pleased. "I'm glad I took Kim's then."

I shook my head, saying goodbye to her before walking out of the shop and heading home. Sure enough Lois's predication came true and it was pouring it down with rain before I'd even taken ten steps.

Luckily for me I didn't live that far away from work so it was only a matter of a ten minute walk and I was soon at home, wringing the water out of my hair and grabbing a towel from the bathroom as I went up to my bedroom. Muttering under my breath I walked into the room, making a mental note to turn on the heating and dumping my coat on the chair.

"Where have you been?"

I froze as I (finally) noticed the figure sitting on my bed.

"I was at work," I replied evenly. "Shouldn't you be facing your punishment?"

Loki was sat there, paler than usual and covered in cuts and bruises. He seemed exhausted, but still held himself with pride. One of his hands was held over a wound in his side and his helmet lay abandoned by his side.

He didn't say anything, obviously not wanting to discuss such things with a mortal.

"So what brings you here?" I asked, seeing as he was going to say-or do- anything. "Did you miss me?"

"Do not test me, mortal," he snapped. "I have chosen your world because Heimdall's gaze cannot reach here- do not wish that the oaf who insists on calling me his brother would come."

"And you appeared in my bedroom because that was the only place you saw," I finished, shifting from foot to foot, unsure about what to do. "Did you want me to heal those?"

His eyes narrowed in suspicion, watching me carefully as I walked over to him.

"Relax, I just thought you'd be less cranky if I helped you out," I said, not wanting to add that I hoped it would make him less likely to kill me for blasting him off the tower.

He continued to look at me in suspicion, but begrudgingly allowed me to approach him and I sat beside him on the bed as I started with the wounds on his face.

What I'd learned about my power was that I actually had to be touching the wound in order to heal it, but if I touched someone's forehead I could use it to relieve pain instead of healing. Which meant headaches and period pains were no longer a problem- beat that ibuprofen!

Of course that made it awkward at times, like now as I healed a bruise on his cheek whilst he stared defiantly ahead. It was kind of awkward and I half-expected to find another knife in my stomach.

"Why are you wearing it?"

"Wearing what?" I asked, mentally panicking at the thought that he seemed to have read my mind. Could he do that?

"The blade I used to stab you- do you wish to be reminded of your pain?"

"No," I replied cautiously, thinking that kinda sounded like a threat. "It was just a memento."

We fell back into silence, and I decided it was my turn to ask a question.

"Are these injuries from your punishment?" I guessed, and he looked at me like I'd suggested the moon was made out of cheese.

"It was the Chitauri," he replied, tensing as I moved my hand to his split lip and seeming to mock me as my hand probably shook from it.

"I thought the Avengers killed all the Chitauri," I said, regretting it immediately.

Again with the look.

My hands were on is neck now and I had the urge to strangle him when he spoke.

"Do you really think that those pathetic mortals could beat the Chitauri?" he sneered. "They had so much trouble taking down only a fraction of their forces."

"So they didn't use all their forces," I commented, not liking the fact he was still giving me that arrogant look. "If you've gotten any hidden wounds you're going to need to remove your armour."

And judging from the cuts in it and the red stains he had.

"Of course they didn't use their full force, they believed it would be simple work taking over such a weak planet." He was saying all this as he took off his armour and you can't blame me for not focusing when there is a hot, topless guy in my room- I mean meeting people like doesn't happen very often in a gal's life. Unless you find a portal to a movie world and then you're surrounded by them. "And they choose to blame me for their failure, accusing me of not giving them the Tesseract when it is by their own underestimation that they lost it."

"Not to judge but didn't you underestimate it as well?"

Oops, shouldn't have said anything.

"You are lucky not to have been killed the moment you walked in here," he hissed. "It is only your talent that allows you to live."

Someone's being a cranky boy.

Obviously Loki hadn't been enjoying a holiday in the Bahamas for the past couple of months, but he just seemed so much more angry and annoyed than I would have thought he would be. Speaking of which, if it's been months then exactly how long has he been running from the Chitauri? I mean he obviously hadn't come here first- however he'd done that- and there wasn't exactly many other places he could go without Heimdall seeing him. So what had he been doing all this time?

That was when a portal began to open in my room.

Both of our heads turned to look at it, both stunned as it expanded outwards and began to properly open.

"They shouldn't have found me so fast," he hissed, jumping to his feet and dumping his armour and helmet on me as he began to open another portal. This one opened much faster, revealing a winter wasteland, the cold air rushing through and sending shivers down my spine. "Let's go."

"Wait, what?!"

He wanted me to go with him?! That was definitely not a good idea.

"Would you rather I leave you to die at the hands of the Chitauri?"

I gave one final glance at the other portal as figures began to appear, then allowed Loki to grab me by the wrist and pull me through into wherever he was taking me.


	2. Chapter 2

I had no idea where we were, but I did know that it was absolutely freezing- it's what imagined the North or South Pole might feel like. Loki was unaffected by the cold, he put on his armour- and after sparing me a glance held out his cloak. I replied with a glare- it was his fault I was stuck out here in the first place.

"You can either put it on or freeze to death," he said. "And trust me when I say either option is fine with me."

I took the cloak from him and wrapped it around myself, but it provided little warmth for me and probably just made me look like Loki from a distance. Looking around there wasn't much to see, a few frozen hills or mountains and tonnes of snow.

"Where are we?" I asked, automatically heading after Loki as he made his way towards a distant cliff- there was no way I was going to be left here.

"Jotunheim," he replied calmly.

I stopped in my tracks.

"Jotunheim?" I

"Is there a problem?" He asked coldly, stopping and turning around to face me. "Jotunheim is one of the few places I can go where I the Chitauri are not all that eager to follow."

"To be honest I'm not all that eager either," I replied, looking around wearily in case any frost giants decided to jump out and attack us. Then another thought occurred to me. "Won't Heimdall be able to see you here?"

"Which is why we have to get moving," he said through gritted teeth. "Unless you would rather wait here?"

That wasn't a good option either so I decided that it would indeed be in my best interests if I stayed with Loki-but trust me if he'd taken me somewhere warmer I would have ditched him in an instant.

He started walking again and I began to follow, trying to keep up with his pace whilst also trying to protect myself from the cold. Occasionally there would be a gust of icy wind that seemed to be trying to get the cloak off me.

Like in the film, it appeared to be dark here and I wondered if it was ever day here. Though it was hard to imagine this place with anything other than dark skies- even rain was out of it.

"Do you actually know where you're going, or are you just walking around until the Chitauri turn up and dragging us off somewhere else?" I asked, but was deftly ignored. "If that is the plan then can we skip the walking part and just go somewhere warmer?"

I choked back a scream as Loki appeared in front of me, wrapping his hand around my neck tightly.

"You forget your place, mortal," he said with an obvious relish for causing me pain. "You should feel grateful that I spared your pitiful life, and if you wish to keep it I suggest that you remain silent."

He held on for a few seconds longer, letting the message sink in and making me panic from lack of oxygen. I tried to prise his hand off, but he was far too strong for that and it just ended up making me look like an idiot. My lungs began to burn and spots dance across my vision before he finally let go and allowed me to draw in a deep breath.

Placing my hand on my neck, I flinched at the pain from my probably bruised skin and set about healing it.

Or at least I tried to.

The sheer cold of this place was making it harder to concentrate, in turn making it harder to use my power. It was also hard with Loki watching me carefully, but I blocked everything out and healed it, albeit at a painfully slow rate.

"Having trouble?" he asked with a smirk, and I was about to remark that he was the one who had performance issues but a twinge in my neck reminded me to shut up. "Now can we get a move on before my idiot brother arrives?"

Now Loki must have had some bad mojo going on about him because that was the moment his 'idiot brother' decided to make his big entrance- lightning and all.

"Loki! What trickery are you up to now?" he asked, looking between me and the god- he'd obviously been told I was here by Heimdall because he did not seem surprised to see me here.

However I was surprised when suddenly I was held up against Loki whilst he held the dagger I wore at my throat. Thor went to throw Mjolnir, but a tightened grip warned him against it. I tried not to move- or even swallow as I felt the cool blade against my throat.

"I had a feeling you'd come, brother." He practically spat the last word out, but I could imagine that he was grinning at this situation. "Come to take me home have you?"

"You got yourself into this mess," Thor stated, gripping his hammer tightly. "You should face your punishment instead of running away like a coward."

"I am not a coward!" Hissed Loki- he probably was a cat in a past life, he sure did hiss a lot. "And I have no intention of returning to Asgard."

"Then what will you do? Where will you go, brother?" asked Thor. "Come home."

"Asgard is not my home!"

"We grew up in those halls together- it is as much your home as it is mine."

I almost felt like saying 'enough with the bull already- Loki doesn't want to go to Asgard and I don't want to freeze my ass off. Can we just move this along to the part where he escapes and you take me to the Avengers already!' It wouldn't have been the wisest idea ever, but I was being held hostage in a frozen wasteland, so sue me.

"When will you learn that I will never return to Asgard?" asked Loki with an annoyed tone. "And in case you have forgotten may I point out that I am holding one of your precious Midgardians hostage."

"Let her go," Thor said warningly. "You do not need to do this."

"Oh but I do," disagreed the other. "What else would I use to keep you from preventing my escape?"

It took a few seconds to click into place. By then it was already too late, Loki pulled out another knife and slashed it across my stomach and letting me go so I could drop too the floor. Blood gushed from the long slash, the cold wind blowing against me increasing the pain so much and I knew I wouldn't be able to heal it. I couldn't concentrate in this place, and I knew I wouldn't last long with the amount of blood I was losing.

"It's your choice, Thor!" declared Loki. "Save the mortal or chase after me and let her die!"

Thor looked torn, but we all knew what his choice would be and sure enough it was no surprise when the Thunderer came over to help me. Loki laughed as he opened up another portal, before disappearing through it and leaving us on our own.

"Can you not heal your wounds?" he asked, kneeling down beside me.

I shook my head; "It's too cold."

I was trying as hard as I could, but it appeared to be having no effect and the loss of blood was making me feel dizzy and lightheaded.

"We need to get you to a healer," he said, after a quick inspection of the cut- which I refused to look at any more.

"Or somewhere warmer," I added, before passing out.

**A/N: Just to tell you the poll will be closing when I post the next chapter up and (to let a hint out) if you are against pairings then you'd best cast your vote. It should also be noted that with pairings there may be some trouble as I try to keep the interactions between my OC and the other characters realistic so do not expect too much- especially if Loki or Tony** **wins the poll.**


	3. Chapter 3

I could hear voices. One of them was Thor's, that I knew, but I couldn't recognise any of the others. Keeping my eyes closed, I waited until the others had left the room before I opened my eyes. The room wasn't like any hospital I'd ever seen with its high roofs and archway windows- it was like a medieval castle and I felt a bubble of excitement as part of me realised where I might be.

Thor turned to look at me with a grin on his face as I sat up, walking over to the edge of bed- or whatever it was I was on- and patting me on the shoulder.

"It is good to see you up," he said. "We were worried for a moment."

"'We'?" I echoed, looking down at the bandaged covering my waist through the bloodied hole in my top. "Where are we anyway?"

I pulled up the top and bandages, setting about healing the giant cut on stomach- I was going to have nightmares about that- and wondering if they might have some spare clothes for me here.

Anything but a dress though.

"Asgard," replied the Thunderer, and I looked at him to see if he was joking. "I was not able to take you straight to Midgard and you were in dire need of help."

"I'm in Asgard?" I repeated, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu- except for the fact Thor seemed to find it amusing. "Oh my god, really?"

"You are very excited about this," he commented with a laugh.

"Are you kidding? I've always been into mythology and to actually be here on Asgard- it's epic," I said.

I always had been into mythology, starting with Egyptian mythology as a kid and then progressing outwards as I grew up; Egyptian, Greek, Japanese, Norse- all kinds of mythology. Throughout it though Loki had been my overall favourite god, the idea of a god of mischief and lies appealing to me.

After all, everybody lies.

Speaking of which I haven't seen _The Invention Of Lying_ in a while.

I climbed off the bed as I walked over to the window, leaning out as I looked in awe around the place. It was so glorious with all the bizarre, golden buildings- it was so much more than amazing than in the film. I couldn't see why Loki didn't like this place, it was really cool.

"Do you like it?" asked Thor, joining me at the window.

"Love it," I replied, ignoring his chuckle.

"Well if you are quite finished admiring the view then I shall take you to father."

Now that made me panic.

"Why?" I asked out of curiosity.

"He said he wished to see you once you've awoken- I believe it concerns my brother," explained the Thunderer, sounding a little pained when he mentioned Loki. He was probably upset about him getting away again.

"Do you think I could get some new clothes?" I asked, pulling at the ripped top and the now wet clothes from where the snow had melted. "I don't think I should meet him like this."

"There are some on your bedside," he replied, pointing towards the neatly folded clothes on the side. "We did not think it right that we should ask someone to give you theirs, so you were given some of Loki's."

I paused as I picked up the jacket, a black and green leather one that was made for someone taller than me, so I guessed it would probably be a bit too big- and from what I could tell they were supposed to be form-fitting clothes. Thor left the room so I could change, and my predictions turned out wrong as I put the clothes on because they fit me perfectly- my guess was magic or something.

Either that or I had suddenly grown during my unconsciousness.

It was the basic outfit without the armour- black and green leather (Or whatever it was they had here) clothes which went very nicely with my black boots. I'd never worn leather before and I felt a sudden gratefulness to my friends wash over me as I looked down at my body. I mean I'd never been fat, but a bit chubby around the middle which made me feel a little subconscious and a push from my friends to join them and the fact I felt horribly out of shape when with the Avengers had done it.

But enough about my self- loathing.

I looked over the outfit, and wondered if I looked like a female Loki with my long black hair- I had blue eyes though, a small comfort to me as I realised I looked like the man who had- however long ago- decided to gut me like a fish.

"Are you decent?" I heard Thor ask, and rolled my eyes- it sounded so _Pirates of the Caribbean_ to me.

"Yeah, come in," I replied and he walked in, looking up and down the outfit.

"You look just like him," he said- not the best compliment in the world, being compared to a psycho like him. "He always would leave an enchantment in his clothes."

That's probably why they fit me then.

"Are you ready to meet the Allfather?" he asked, and I took an exaggerated breath before nodding.

"Is there anything I need to know about addressing him?" I asked, worried I might offend this Eyepatch and bring down the wrath of the gods upon myself.

Dear god this was even more intimidating that meeting Fury and it would kill me if I fainted.

"Just be polite and respectful," advised Thor, giving me a clap on the shoulder. "I trust you will do well, Miss Attwater."

I certainly hope so, I thought as he led me along to what I assumed was going to be the throne room- I just couldn't imagine him meeting me anywhere else. As we went along I looked around at these bizarre surroundings, not caring if I was like a hapless tourist- I was on an alien planet! One that wasn't minus stupid degrees!

"I think this is going to be one of the most intimidating moments in my life," I said, more to myself than Thor as I spotted a small platform which stood on top of a waterfall and with a start I realised it was the remains of the Bifrost- I couldn't tell if they were repairing it or not mainly because the waterfall seemed to end where the platform did, broken or not. "I know I'm going to do something stupid."

"Do not fear, father may appear stern but he is a good man and will not hold your blunders against you," Thor said in what I guessed was supposed to be a supportive comment, but it made me feel even more intimidated.

"What will happen to me after the Allfather-" That word sounded foreign in my mouth- "Is finished talking to me? Will I go back to my Midgard or your Midgard?"

He thought about it carefully.

"I supposed you will stay on 'my' Midgard- at least until we know what it is that Loki desires from you," he finally replied. "Unless, that is, you wish to remain in this Midgard."

It was a tempting notion.

"I'm not sure," I replied instead, putting off the decision.

We finally reached the room and I trailed behind Thor as he walked straight past the guards without a second thought as we entered the room. I could have sworn that the guards gave me disgusted looks as I passed and felt any confidence I had leave me- especially when I saw the figure on the throne.

In the film Odin looked nothing more than a stern old man, but here he was an intimidating authority figure who made the room seem so much smaller and whose presence practically screamed respect. I could see a woman nearby, who seemed much kinder but still had the same air of authority- Frigga I think her name was.

Without a word, the guards closed the doors and I suddenly felt very trapped.

**A/N: The poll is now closed people, and the most popular answer with a total of 10 out of the 29 votes cast is Loki, which means my life has just got harder. I may not go with the poll however as that is a hard pairing to put in- but I will try my best.**

**Here are the full results:**

**1****st****: Yes-Loki (10 out of 29)**

**2****nd****: No (5 out of 29)**

**3****rd****: Yes- Bruce, Yes- Steve (Both 4 out of 29)**

**4****th****: Yes- Thor, Yes-Clint (Both 3 out of 29)**

**5****th****: Yes- Tony (0 out of 29)**

**Pairing with Loki may not be definite! I may make it a friends thing instead.**


	4. Chapter 4

I stood next to Thor as he stopped, the sound of my heart facing seeming to fill up the whole room as for moments no-one spoke. The scrutiny of the Odin and Frigga made me feel extremely uncomfortable, the clothes I was wearing seeming like a bad idea now. I mean surely there was at least one Asgardian who was willing to lend me clothes- or was my appearance with Loki in Jotunheim enough to make them believe I was an ally of his?

"Thor had told me of what occurred upon his arrival, and Heimdall before that," began Odin, his voice quiet yet powerful. "But I would like to know why you were with him in the first place."

"He took me with him when the Chitauri showed up at my house," I replied, hoping my voice hadn't faltered.

Thor seemed alarmed, but Odin less so and more annoyed for my edited version of events.

"What was Loki doing in your… house in the first place?" he asked, Thor now also looking over at me curiously.

I took a deep breath before starting; "I went home to find that he was in my house, and when I asked him why he was there he said because it was somewhere Heimdall's gaze could not reach."

Odin was once again annoyed, either that or he had to try really hard to think, and I was just grateful I wasn't a babbler. Imagine that, me just talking and talking-I'd have been killed a long time ago.

"Explain what occurred between the two of you," he said.

So I gave him the run of events, trying to get the image of topless Loki out of my head- sure he wasn't as cut as Thor but he was still hot. Didn't mean I'd forgive him for stabbing (again!) though, I wasn't that shallow. I tried hard to keep my voice level and not let it show that I was freaking out on the inside.

When I had finished there was a long silence, during which I could tell Thor wanted to bombard me with questions about Loki. I was half-surprised that he didn't, given his nature but was grateful nonetheless.

"You would help your enemy?"

I faltered for a moment, unsure about how he wanted me to answer it, then decided to speak my mind.

"Defeating your enemy isn't just about beating them in battle," I replied.

It was the first time he had seemed to… well, not like, but respect my answer, nodding ever so slightly.

"You believe you can turn Loki away from his path of destruction?"

No, I didn't. Because at the end of the day Loki had free will and he wasn't necessarily going to listen to me- or anyone- about turning his life around. The only one who could turn him away from that path was himself.

"I want to give him reason to."

Call me crazy, but when things got this extreme then I didn't believe that punishment was always the answer- Loki was the way he was because he felt inferior to Thor and had grown up to find out he was the monster that all his supposed people feared. In his case I believed he should be shown that he could be accepted if he chose to come back, that nobody looked down on him for being a frost giant.

"You speak wise, for a mortal," commented Odin, and I figured that was as much as compliment I was going to get out of the guy. "But do you not believe that it is these thoughts which caused him to go to you above all others? Do you not think that Loki is using you because of these sentiments?"

He had a point, and it wasn't like I hadn't thought about it.

"It doesn't mean I shouldn't try."

I didn't believe that Loki was going to turn from bad to good, but I believed there was good in him and refused to give up in trying. It wasn't in my nature to try for a little bit and then give up on someone because it didn't work- that just wasn't me at all.

Well, some times it was.

"Very well then, we shall send you to Midgard now," he said, then to clear it up added; "Our own Midgard."

Wait, that was it? He only wanted to see me to ask why I hadn't kicked the butt of his adopted son? Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be.

"I shall go with her to make sure she is looked after," said Thor, speaking up for the first time and I thought for a moment that Odin was going to tell him no and then some argument broke out. But as it was Odin just nodded and did whatever he was doing that would presumably send us to Midgard- I mean Earth.

Whatever he was doing was different to the Tesseract because instead of blue light rushing past me and a bizarre rushing feeling, it felt almost like falling at incredible speeds with the world blurring before me only to reorganise itself into a new view entirely as we arrived almost in an instant.

Still not fast enough for me.

"Let's not do that again," I said to Thor, though I wasn't sure if he heard me.

Thunder boomed loudly in the distance, rain shooting down from the sky in torrents and battering everything it could reach. Lightning flashed, the wind howled and I swear to god I was going to be blown off whatever it was I was standing on and blown halfway around the world.

It was like that moment in a movie when you have that ominous and then suddenly some random person turns up at your house who's possibly a psycho killer or some equally threatening… hand on a minute.

"We must get inside!" Thor said loudly, making sure I could hear him and pointing me along the walkway we were standing on.

I practically ran along it, hoping I didn't slip as I looked over the edge to see a long drop down and realised I was on the top of some building. But glass doors soon revealed themselves and an amused person standing behind them, practically laughing at us.

Of course it would be Stark tower I would land on.

Which meant I didn't have to ask nicely to go in, so I walked straight into the room and resisted the urge to punch Tony in his smirking face.

"You look a bit wet," he said.

I bet I looked like the Grudge woman.

"Very observant of you," I said sarcastically. "Anything else you'd like to point out, Captain Obvious?"

"I missed you too, Crazy Chick," he said, turning to Thor as he came in. "So what's with the delivery?"

Thor proceeded to tell him what happened, whilst I just stood there shivering and dripping water all over the place.

"Well can it be noted I will not be putting nukes through portals anytime soon," Tony said. "I tried Caps whole way of saving the world and decided I don't very much like it- mainly because I could have died."

"I do not think we need fear the Chitauri," Thor said in reply. "They seem more focused in finding Loki than attacking Earth again."

"That's because we kicked their asses and now they know better," Tony commented.

"I don't recall bad guys giving up because you 'kicked their asses'," I pointed out. "They may just be regrouping."

"Way to think on the bright side of things." Tony went over to his bar and got himself another drink. "Can I offer either of you anything?"

"I must return to Asgard," declined Thor. "I can trust you to look after Miss Attwater can I not?"

"Sure- we're like best friends me and Crazy Chick," he replied to the god, grinning as I glared at him. "See? We get along so well."

"Then I will leave you," he said, offering his archaic farewells before going back outside and disappearing in a flash of lightning from the landing platform.

"Does Fury know you're back?" asked Tony, handing me a Malibu and Coke. I shook my head and he grinned once again. "Well then, I suppose I should let him know."

I had a feeling that Tony was up to something, either that or he had got his ass chewed out by Fury and was in the mood to prove him wrong- as he did with Cap.

Either way I was not looking forward to meeting Fury again.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony did indeed tell Fury, who called in the rest of the available Avengers- the only one who didn't come was Black Widow as she was 'otherwise occupied' as he put it- and made me retell the whole of what had happened for them.

"So there are more of those aliens out there?" asked Steve after I'd finished, looking troubled. "What will happen if Loki shows up here?"

"I they wanted to attack Earth they would have already done so," pointed out Tony, leaning forwards on their chair. "I mean they seem to have the means to travel around."

"Which they probably already had," I pointed out. "They can probably only send small groups which is why they needed the Tesseract to move their whole army."

"Not their whole army, as you pointed out," countered the playboy. "Besides, they seem more preoccupied with catching Loki so why bother with them?"

"Well what about after they've caught Loki?" asked Bruce. "What's to stop them then?"

It was a daunting thought. The idea of the whole- however large that was- Chitauri army invading Earth and everyone having to battle what would definitely be a more dangerous threat.

"If Jess is right then they'd need to get the Tesseract back in order to pull off this invasion," Clint said after a while.

"Which is probably why they're chasing Loki so relentlessly," I added. "They want him to get the Tesseract for them."

Fury rubbed his temples, leaning on the desk as we all argued over this and avoided voicing the thing we were all thinking. That one thought which was circling around our head and seemed so reckless and impossible that we would never say it.

I glanced around at everyone's faces, no-one seemed relaxed and we all seemed to be hesitant about voicing that one thought.

"We can't let them get Loki," I finally said, the reaction as expected when everyone looked at me with mixed expressions from shock to anger.

"So you're saying we should play bodyguard to the guy who tried to take over the world?" asked Clint stiffly, tensing up and folding his arms across his chest. "How about we catch him and then just hand him over to Asgard so they can get round to punishing him."

"That would put him in close proximity to the Tesseract," replied Bruce, shifting slightly under Hawkeye's gaze. "And he's already escaped from Asgard once- who's to say he won't do it again?"

"Wait, are we seriously suggesting keeping Loki here?" asked Stark, looking expectantly at Fury. "Well I hope you've got somewhere to keep him."

"I think we should be able to find him first, don't you?" countered Fury. "We have no idea where he is and even if he does come here it sounds like he won't stick around long enough for us to find and retrieve him- he could escape as soon as we engage him."

A few glances were sent my way and I could guess what they were all thinking- they wanted to use me to lure Loki in, he was using me for my powers and because he knew I wouldn't deny him that. So it made sense that he would come to me again, even if I were with the Avengers he could easily escape.

Part of me was willing to take this risk, to talk to Loki, but another part of me wanted nothing to do with it. Maybe Tony was right and the Chitauri wouldn't come back, maybe they had learnt their lesson about messing with humans and would go back to whatever it is they did in their spare time.

But I remembered Thanos, the villain who had shown up in the credits- I didn't know much about him except that he wasn't some push over villain and if he decided to come down to Earth himself…

"Not unless someone convinces him that it's in his best interests to stay with us," Bruce said slowly. "As an ally rather than an enemy."

"Are you nuts?" Clint stood up, hands on the table as he looked at each of us. "This guy tried to take over the world, kept me and others as his personal slaves and you expect us to be all buddy-buddy with him?"

"If we catch him then he could just as easily escape- we have no idea how he's managed to find a way to create portals," pointed out Steve, trying to calm Clint down. "We'd have a better chance of keeping him around if we were allies."

"But keep him around for how long? Because I don't think the Chitauri are going to give up."

It was true, we couldn't keep the Chitauri at bay forever- especially since there was already a group in pursuit and who knows how they were managing to get about… It hit me then- the Chitauri must have a device that allows them to open a portal for a small time, or maybe one of them has an ability or some spell. If we could take whatever was allowing them to come over away then they would never be able to get their hands on the Tesseract. Hopefully.

"We need to take away their ability to transport," I said, and they looked at me. "Whatever their using if we can take it from them then they won't be able to pursue Loki and the Tesseract."

"But what if there is more than one of these… things?" asked Steve.

"If they did then they wouldn't have needed the Tesseract in the first place and they certainly wouldn't go through all of the effort they're going through now just to get it." Tony was looking extremely thoughtful. "If we can keep Loki here long enough for the Chitauri to appear here then it should be easy work to catch them and find out what it is they're using."

"And how do you plan on keeping Loki around?" asked Fury in disbelief. "Invite him for a sleepover?"

"Actually…" began Tony, his eyes flicking over to me slightly. "I was hoping our resident Crazy Chick might have a chat with him."

"Stark no- you can't endanger a civillians life like that," argued Steve, looking like he might leap out of his chair too. "Detaining Loki as a prisoner is one thing but putting her in the line of fire-"

"In case you haven't noticed she does heal quite well," interrupted Tony.

"But she's still a civilian- she has no fighting skills and wouldn't stand a chance against Loki if he decided to attack her," protested the soldier. "No offense, ma'am."

"None taken," I replied, shifting slightly at the awkward atmosphere in the room.

Clint had sunk back into his chair but was still pissed about the idea, Bruce was like me and feeling rather awkward, Tony and Steve were probably going to be at each others throats and Fury was sporting the world's largest headache.

"Well how else to you plan on making him stay?" asked Tony.

"Capture him- like we did before-"

"When he was playing Galaga," interrupted the playboy, Steve's jaw twitching slightly. "As you said, that guy packs a wallop and if he decided to clear out of there he may never come back. We effectively have one chance and if we blow this then we could end up facing an even bigger invasion than last time. It's not as if we're leaving her on her own and if you're that worried about her then make her stay at my tower were Jarvis can inform us if Loki shows up and decides to kill her."

Steve looked like he wanted to continue arguing, but he could see that Tony wasn't going to give up on this idea.

"You can even stay as well- and the other four, then she'll be totally protected and we'll be fully capable of taking care of anything that shows up," added Tony.

"Well I still don't think that it's a good idea."

"Perhaps you should ask Miss Attwater if she would like to do it," interceded Fury, and again everyone turned to look at me.

"Sure, why not?" I replied with a shrug.


	6. Chapter 6

With the plan set up, it was only a matter of time and patience. We had no idea how long it would take until we could get Loki to show up, and even then we- or rather, I- would have to convince him to stick around so we could stop the Chitauri. A plan which seemed so desperate and likely to fail, one where Loki could just as easily use us for his own purposed and then dispose of us when he wanted.

After we'd finished that meeting, Tony took me back to the tower and hooked me up with a room. The others were to pack up the stuff they needed and then come here straight away- there was no knowing when the god might show up. The playboy had also given me access to one of his many credit cards, telling to 'spend as much as your conscience allows' seeing as I had nothing at all except the Loki outfit I was wearing, my proper clothes probably already disposed of on Asgard- including the dagger and the picture, something which saddened me greatly.

As it was I didn't feel like going out at that precise moment, looking out of the windows which made up one wall of the corridor I was standing in and looking out at the horrible weather. If I hadn't known that Thor was on Asgard I would have claimed that someone seemed to be having a hissy fit.

"Why did you agree to the plan?"

I turned away from the window to see Steve standing a few meters away, hands clasped behind his back and his back straightened. His face displayed a stern disapproval, but his eyes betrayed a curiosity and I knew that he was angry at himself rather than me. Did he believe that he could have changed the outcome of this? Or was he angry because there was no other option?

"It would be selfish of me to put my life ahead of the whole Earth," I replied, leaning back against the cool glass.

"But aren't you scared?" he asked as he walked over towards me, slowly and carefully. "I mean since you're not a hero- I mean, fighter."

My lips twitched slightly as I tried not to smile, running a hand through my hair in an attempt to hide my face and in a gesture to calm myself down.

"Of course I am," I said, he looked bemused then and I continued. "But that still doesn't mean I should be selfish."

He smiled as he stood next to me, looking out the window and down at the city. Occasionally a bolt of lightning would flash, lighting up his face and making it hard for me to tell what he was thinking.

"You'd make a great hero, ma'am," he finally said. "You have heart."

"Yeah, but no fighting skills," I pointed out, "only my healing skill."

"It's a very helpful skill," he said, turning his head to look at me. "Although I do agree that it would be useful for you if you did have some combat training."

"Why don't you teach me then?" I asked, and then tried to cover the blush on my face. "I mean, I'd appreciate it if you would teach me a few skills."

"Sure," he agreed, smiling at my embarrassment.

Inside I was fangirling out- I was going to get trained by Captain America! The world's first superhero! Imagine what Coulson would think if he found out. Speaking of which, I hadn't seen Coulson since I took the blade for him- I wondered where he was.

"Thanks," I said, hoping I didn't sound like I was mentally doing a victory dance.

"No problem," replied the super soldier.

"What's no problem?"

We both turned at the same time, Tony making his appearance with an awkward Bruce behind him. Tony looked out at the window, then around the corridor and then back at us.

"Is there something interesting about this hallway I don't know?" he asked, walking over to us and looking between us curiously.

"Well up until a moment ago you weren't in it," I replied at the same time as Steve went to speak. Tony as usual just thought it was hilarious and grinned at me.

"You are so charming sometimes," he said, turning to Bruce he added; "Isn't she?"

"Perhaps if you were nicer to the lady," began Steve. "She would be nicer to you."

"You look lovely today," Tony said to me, a teasing smirk on his face.

"Go to hell," I replied casually. Tony pointed at me and looked at Steve as if to 'see?' and Steve just shrugged, trying not to smile as Tony huffed childishly.

"Fine then, I guess I'll just take Bruce to his room," he said, turning and walking away with his nose in the air.

"Drama queen," I said, and he turned to flash me a grin before continuing on in his bizarre way; Bruce following him somewhat reluctantly as he tried to distance himself from the billionaire. When they had disappeared, Steve and I looked at each other before laughing.

"Wow," I commented, and the soldier nodded in agreement. "Now that was weird."

Steve excused himself later on, leaving me to stand out in the corridor and look out at the storm. It fascinated me because I'd never seen one this big, but also scared me when the lightning struck a little too close or the wind seemed to shake the whole building. I could see the red tail lights of the cars that clogged up the streets and the lights turning on in the other buildings as the sky became even darker.

I suppose part of the real reason I stood here was because I felt… I wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't a nice feeling and being around the others made me feel nervous. Like they could see straight into me and were laughing at me or pitying how scared I was, hating me because Loki came to me.

Everything had moved along so fast last time I was here that I never got chance to actually sit down and pay attention to what I was feeling. The mixed feelings of fear, excitement and wonder were how it felt to be here, proud and happy when the Avengers got along with me, and the hatred and pity I felt for Loki.

"Do you really think you can do this?"

I almost jumped as Clint appeared suddenly, a serious expression on his face and a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Well Loki isn't going to be captured-"

"But you're not capturing Loki," interrupted Clint. "You're going to befriend him and make him play good cop for a while."

I was a bit taken aback by Clint's sharp tone- I mean I knew he'd have issues with Loki because he brainwashed him, but this was different.

"Not befriend him, just-"

"Keep him around so he can stab us in the back once we've dealt with the Chitauri," he finished, and I felt my temper flare up at the interruptions.

"Well if you can think of a better plan then be my guest," I snapped. "Do you think I like the idea of being all nice to him? The guy stabbed me twice, he's dropped me off the Helicarrier _and you think I want to be his friend?"_

It was his turn to be taken aback as we stared each other down, neither of us knowing what to say and daring the other one to make a move. Don't get me wrong, we both were ready to make this a full blown argument but we were both mature adults and knew that fighting was wrong.

"Now if you'll excuse me I have better things to do than shoulder your grudge with Loki," I said, breaking the silence and walking off in the direction of my bedroom.

Day one and the team was already beginning to fall apart.


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days past without much interest, the storm ended later that night and the next day New York's streets were crowded as people went about their way. I got up the nerve to actually go out, accompanied Steve, Tony saying that I needed someone to go out with me who could defend me if Loki showed up. Bruce was immediately taken out of the choice, Clint next as he wouldn't be able to take his bow and Tony wouldn't be able to do much until his suit arrived at the scene.

It was fairly uneventful though; picking up some new clothes for and a few other essentials (like a phone!). We stopped for lunch at McDonald's, something which I was determined that he should try and he did seem to like it. After the shopping was done we decided we would look around the city, the super soldier having the pleasure of pointing out places to me as I had no clue about what was in New York.

Afterwards we headed back and the rest of the day was spent with me reorganising the room- repeatedly, and the next was spent trying to figure out what to do with my time. If I were in my own world I would either me at work, updating my fanfiction or playing on Avengers Alliance- even going out with my friends to all the great pubs and having 'tournaments' which involved playing best two out of three on games such as pool, skittles, darts and table football.

It was the next night, long after the sky had gone dark that Loki showed up for the first time.

I was lying on the double bed that was provided in the room, sitting back and watching _The Guardian_ with some ramen and a bottle of coke. Being me I didn't notice Loki's arrival until the god actually spoke up and scared the living daylights out of me.

"He should have let the man drown."

I let out a stream of curses under my breath as some of the hot liquid spilled on my lap and put the bowl aside as I turned to face Loki- who was sitting on the bed next to me.

"Why are you here?" I asked somewhat grumpily, forgetting momentarily the whole plan. Jarvis would have no doubt alerted everyone to his presence and was keeping a close watch in case he tried to attack me.

"To apologise," said the god.

I just stared in disbelief, looking carefully at him to see if he was joking- but he seemed so serious.

"Did you hit your head?" I asked, and he rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"No," he replied stiffly. "I've been thinking over about what it means for me, that I am a fictional character in your world."

I didn't say anything, waiting to see where he was going with this.

"I am quite aware that you mortals are fond of your so-called 'happy endings' and it made me realise something," he continued. "That I can never win- because as you believe good triumphs over evil then I am just caught in an endless cycle of failure."

Wow. That was not what I was expecting. I looked him over carefully, pretty sure that this was some kind of trick- I mean he knew this from the start and he chooses now, the very moment we decide to (somewhat reluctantly) make him an ally as we take on the Chitauri? If this wasn't some kind of trick then I was a Pop Tart.

"So you expect me to believe that you've just hopped from the Dark Side to join us?" I asked, wondering if somewhere in this tower, Tony and the others were watching this on a giant TV, with popcorn and yelling at me not to blow this.

Well mainly Tony, I don't see the others as yellers.

"Of course not," replied the Trickster with a patronising smile. "But you must if you want your plan to go through."

So he did know about the plan- I knew it!

"Prove it, Twinkle-toes," I replied coolly, knowing I was pushing my luck as Loki's face darkened (I swear I could hear Tony's laughter from here. "Prove that you're not here just to use us like your own personal puppets."

"I don't think it really matters- I want the Chitauri to stop chasing me and you want them not to invade Earth," he said, watching me carefully. "Would it not be simpler if we accepted that we cannot trust each other and just set about our task?"

"Why don't you just kill the group chasing you?" I asked.

"I do, but there is one who holds the device which allows them to travel and he always leaves before I can kill him." He looked slightly peeved at my questioning his brains.

I hope Tony heard that. So there was a device they were using to get about- just one from the sounds of it so if we could just find that one blasted Chitauri then we could put an end to this. It sounded easy enough- there couldn't be that many Chitauri following him and there was more than one Avenger.

"So what you're saying is that the almighty Loki needs our help?"

I was seriously pushing it, but I couldn't help but ask. It had only been days since we'd agreed to this plan and I was supposed to believe that Loki actually wanted to be a part of it.

"Did I not say that I was wanted to leave my current path? I wish now only to help you defend Earth against the Chitauri threat," he replied calmly, but his eyes flashed dangerously.

That wasn't an answer to the question, and no matter how great a liar it was easy to see through them. Or maybe this was a double bluff? Either way, I knew we had to be cautious about this.

"Well then I guess I can't deny you if you really want to do it," I replied, somewhat sarcastically. "Although I'm not the one in charge, so…"

I shrugged, the god smirking and leaning over to whisper.

"Whether this was part of a plan or not you would not refuse me."

"Why's that?"

He looked me in the eye, raising his eyebrow and looking at me with a mixture of hate and superiority.

"Because like that stupid oaf who calls himself my brother you believe I can be brought back from this path- you care about me," he explained, loading as much hatred as he could into the sentence. "Because no matter how many times I hurt you- whether with words or weapons you still continue to believe in me, even if you don't know it."

Wow, since when was Loki a shrink? To my credit I didn't show any response to this statement.

"Well it's lucky that I'm not in charge of the plan then, isn't it?" I asked absentmindedly.

"You don't have to be," he replied with a chuckle, and I felt shivers go down my spine.

He was _definitely_ up to something.


	8. Chapter 8

Jarvis had informed me that the others were waiting upstairs, and that they wished to meet with Loki immediately. So with as much nonchalance as I could muster I switched off my DVD and told the god to follow me as I walked out of the room, trying to still my racing heart as part of my mind expected to feel a blade slip into my back.

The journey up to the room was dauntingly quiet, the sounds of our muffled footsteps and echoes from other parts of the building being the only noises. Loki remaining surprisingly silent, whilst I just didn't want to speak to him at all and risk the questions I had inside me bursting forth. The urge to deny everything he had said and tell him that I wouldn't stand up for him at all.

We reached the room in minutes and I was met with serious faces as I entered the room. Tony was in the process of pouring himself another drink, Clint back against the window and fiddling with a coin in his hand, Bruce sat on his own chair with a hint of nervousness and Steve sat on the sofa looking like he'd rather capture Loki than play chums.

"Well aren't you all cheerful," commented Loki, standing in the doorway as I took my own chair.

"So you've agreed to our plan then?" asked Tony, ignoring the Trickster's comment. "And how did you happen to hear about that?"

"That would be telling," replied Loki, the corners of his lips turning up slightly.

Tony walked up to the god, stopping about a metre short as he raised a hand to his mouth and put on a puzzled expression.

"That's funny, because I thought since we were working together-"There was noticeable distaste as he said that. "-that there would be no secrets. Or was Fury giving you life lessons as well?"

"If you were planning to give up all of your secrets then I am most disappointed," Loki countered. "Do not make play that we are equal."

For someone who was trying to 'be a good guy' he was certainly not putting much effort into it. I believed that he as probably acting cocky because he believed- much like we did- that this was the only way to stop the Chitauri. Luckily though it meant he couldn't attack us, which Tony seemed to be taking advantage of as he continued to speak to the god- although he could just be being himself.

""I guess not since we did beat you," he replied thoughtfully, Loki's eyes flashing dangerously. "If anything it puts us above you- even Crazy Chick, I mean she blasted you off the tower and I can tell you that I still have that clip if you want to see it. It certainly cheers me up."

Wow, so he kept a clip of me blasting Loki to cheer him up? When did he ever need cheering up?

I shifted slightly in my chair as the Trickster's gaze moved over to me, making sure not to look away and met his gaze equally. He seemed like he was going to laugh, but turned back to face Tony.

"Well I'm glad I could provide entertainment for you," he said, practically sneering at the playboy. "But I don't believe I'm here for that."

"I guess not," agreed Tony, taking another sip from his drink. "So let's get back on track, you said they have some sort of device to get about?"

"Yes, like the devices you mortals call 'computers'- it is attached to one of their wrists and all they have to do is simply put in where they wish to go," replied Loki. "I'm surprised that you haven't come up with such a device Stark."

To Tony's credit he didn't react to that jibe, and it was Bruce who instead answered the god.

"You say they keep following you," he began. "But how do they know where you are?"

"Obviously they do not use only technology," was Loki's reply, which didn't really answer the question but hinted at magic. Or maybe they had their own Heimdall? That would be weird…

"I'm going to guess that it will take a while for them to follow you here," I commented, remembering how he said they were not eager to come to Jotunheim- and seeing as they got their ass kicked here they weren't likely to come barging in straight away.

"Indeed," agreed the god, smirking at me. "Last time I hid out on Midgard it took them a month to work up the courage to follow."

"A month?" repeated Clint, outraged. "Are you saying we've got to keep this guy around for a month?!"

"None of us are pleased about this, but we need to cooperate if we are to stop the Chitauri," Steve said to Clint.

"What about Thor when he shows up to drag Loki off to Asgard?" I asked, and if it were possible the room got even quieter. "I mean he does still have a punishment on Asgard to face."

"Can't he just do a Thor-style punishment?" asked Tony, who knew about Thor's banishment after he told us at the shawarma joint. "I mean it comes with the plus of him having no powers."

It sounded like an advantage- having Loki around whilst he was stuck in a 'mortal form'. I remembered though that even in mortal form Thor still managed to do a lot of damage. Taking down those SHIELD agents quite easily, and who was to say that Loki wouldn't be the same? Sure he wasn't as strong as Thor, as his strength came from his intellect, but as Cap said 'that guy sure packs a wallop' and as a god of mischief he could probably think of several ways to make each of us suffer for doing this to him.

There was also the possibility that it would make it easier for the Chitauri to capture him and get him to take them to the Tesseract. I'm sure he could use their device to teleport in or out of wherever it was kept, clearing out before the Asgardians were able to stop him.

"If we did that would we then be able to lock him away in a SHIELD cell?" asked Clint.

"Well SHIELD could put him away anywhere and then we wouldn't be able to find him until the Chitauri showed up," pointed out Bruce. "Then it might be to late- it would be easier for everyone if we kept him here where we can keep an eye on him."

"If you don't want to be in my company then why don't you leave?" asked Loki, leaning against the doorway. "After all your petty grudge against me is so much more important than stopping the Chitauri."

Clint went to reply, anger flashing across his face when there was a huge boom and lightning struck the platform outside.

"How about stopping Thor?" I asked.

**OMG! Iron Man 3 trailer! Here: www . youtube watch?v=5EjG-1U3wqA&list=HL1351019003&feature=mh_lolz (remove spaces)**


	9. Chapter 9

_**"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?"**_

_**"Move away please... You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you want to find out?"**_

_**"No!" **_

_**"If you want to be a hero so much then I'll let you share my brother's fate."**_

_/_

I woke up with a start, one hand clutching at my chest and the other at the sheets. I thought I'd gotten over these nightmares.

Apparently not.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead, looking across to my clock and read the time off. 3:24am, way too early for my taste. I lay back down again, trying to calm my breathing and rubbing my temples.

Was it because Loki was back? He was in the same building as us, and even though Thor had returned it still scared me.

/

_We all turned as the God of Thunder approached, a stern look on his face as he entered the tower and his gaze not leaving Loki's face._

"_Right on time," said Tony, stepping back from the Trickster. "We were just finished agreeing on our great plan to stop the Chitauri."_

"_And that plan involves my brother?"_

"_Well we need him as bait," replied the billionaire._

"_What Tony means is that we think the Chitauri are after Loki to get the Tesseract back, which means they'd invade again- except this time it would be a lot worse," interceded Bruce before Thor could object to us using his 'brother' like that. "We figure if we can get the device that's allowing them to follow Loki then we can hopefully stop them from getting their hands on it and… well, invading."_

"_Loki must face his punishment on Asgard."_

"_You can fetch him later," said Tony, waving his hand in dismissal. "Save earth first, punish Loki later."_

/

After only a few minutes it became apparent that I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. I begrudgingly got up, stretching my arms before pulling on my dressing gown and decided to get a drink from the kitchen.

For weeks after I'd returned home I'd had nightmares about that incident, about falling towards certain death and my mind supplying the details of what would have happened if Thor hadn't saved us. Being around Loki again had awoken those dreams from my subconscious, and… others.

As I approached the kitchen I was only somewhat surprised to see the light on, given all that's happened it wasn't surprising that others would be unable to sleep. There were no audible sounds coming from the room so it was probably only one person, but who was it?

I entered the room to see Tony sitting at the table, leaning on it with a glass pressed against his head. He didn't acknowledge my presence until I had got my own glass, the noise from putting it down on the counter knocking him from his thoughts.

"What are you doing up, Crazy Chick?" he asked, peeling the glass from his forehead and leaving a red mark behind. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Shouldn't you?" I countered, turning on the tap. "What's the matter, miss Pepper?"

Wondering about the absence of the redhead earlier I had put the question to Tony, apparently she was back in Malibu dealing with company matters seeing as Tony was busy with rebuilding and remodifying the tower.

"Just a bad dream," he said with a shrug, his usual sarcastic and annoying self subdued at such a late hour. "I'm guessing it's the same for you."

"Yeah," I confirmed, taking the seat opposite him. "Having Loki in the same building is enough to put anyone on edge."

"Well I've got Jarvis keeping an eye on him, if he tries anything then we'll know about it," he replied. "And we'll know if Thor tries to drag him back to Asgard."

/

"_You believe that we are not able to protect the Tesseract?" accused Thor, sounding angry._

"_Well Loki's been leading you a merry dance across worlds," countered Tony. "Who's to say that if you took him back to Asgard to be punished it wouldn't just make him want to re-join the Chitauri and give them the Tesseract."_

"_He has a point," said Loki, smirking at his 'brother' –though his eyes were cold._

"_Shut up," snapped Clint, looking like he was considering just handing Loki to the Thunderer._

"_Do not speak to my brother like that," warned Thor, and for a moment it seemed like a fight might break out._

"_Why don't you stay with us until this is over and then take Loki," suggested Bruce. "Wouldn't you want to give him a chance to redeem himself?"_

_Now that got Thor, who seemed to still believe that his brother could be saved and we knew it wouldn't be hard to convince him- especially since he wouldn't want Earth to end up in the path of another invasion, one that promised to be a lot more dangerous than the least one._

_/_

"Are you always going to call me, Crazy Chick?" I asked suddenly, capturing the billionaire's attention once again. "Do you really still think I'm crazy?"

"Of course," he replied. "Besides, it's an affectionate nickname for you."

"Affectionate?" I echoed, taking a sip of my drink. "Offensive is more like it."

He gave me that annoying grin of his, making me roll my eyes and take another sip. It didn't seem possible for Tony and I to have a civil conversation without it turning into a joke. Although in any case it was my fault for bringing my 'nickname' up- I didn't really mind it, it was kind of an affectionate nickname from him. But it was still annoying.

"Thank you," I said, mulling things over in my head.

"For what?" he asked, looking puzzled slightly. "For calling you crazy?"

"No," I replied patiently. "I mean for this; for letting me stay with you and just looking after me in general."

"It's no problem," he replied with a shrug. "I've got more than enough money and no company at the moment what with Pepper being away."

"What about the other Avengers?" I asked curiously, not even considering to mention Loki.

"They're not the greatest company, most of the time we still have trouble getting on," explained the playboy, taking a sip from his own glass. "Bruce and I get along when we're talking about science stuff, but he's too boring for me."

I can imagine- the limelight loving billionaire and the quiet, secluded scientist- more like the main couple in some cheesy romance novel than two great friends.

Tony looked up with that grin again.

"Know any good drinking games?"

/

"_Do you truly believe that my brother can redeem himself?" asked Thor, looking between us. For a moment no-one dared to answer, to say the word which- even if a lie- would mark them down._

"_Yes," I finally said for everyone, ignoring the gloating smirk of Loki and trying to still my racing heart._


	10. Chapter 10

Needless to say, some people aren't happy to be woken up at stupid O'clock by two idiots blaring _Party Hard _by _Andrew.W.K _as loud as they can. Although most of those people were a safe distance away so only one of them had to suffer us as Tony and I- tipsy, bordering on drunk- tried to play poker, failing miserable.

I didn't even notice Loki come into the room, currently arguing with Tony about why aces were higher than kings and trying to figure out with my clouded mind whether my hand was better than his.

"The ace is higher than the king because they say so," Tony said, slurring slightly.

"Well who decided they were so great?" I countered, rubbing at my eyes. "The king is like… is like… the ruler! Ace is just some dumb idiot who thinks he's great."

"But you don't have to be the ruler to be the best! If you make awesome things for people then you can be better," proclaimed the playboy, taking another sip before realising his glass was empty.

"You mean like your ugly tower?" I asked with a giggle, then noticing Loki standing in the doorway looking extremely annoyed- not that I cared at that moment. "Hi Lokitty!"

Tony and I burst out laughing as the Trickster's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Aren't you two mature," he said sarcastically, walking over. "You keep a dangerous criminal in your tower and yet you get yourselves drunk."

"I'm not drunk, I have a speech impediment," I countered, getting to my feet and stumbling a little. "And an inner ear infection."

"You're drunk and I aught to kill you now for it," replied Loki with a sigh, watching Tony in disdain as the playboy attempted to go over to the bar and get himself another drink, unable to walk in a straight line. "And turn that music down."

"You aren't my mother," I protested, just as the music lowered itself to a more bearable volume. "Are you magic?"

Loki looked like he was seriously considering killing me, but I couldn't care less and just giggle again, poking him on the nose.

"You're cute when you're angry," I said. He pushed my hand away; I pouted childishly and went to fill up my own glass. Loki just grabbed my arm and took the glass from me.

"If I'm going to have to suffer your company," he began, placing it out of my reach. "Then I should rather you were sober."

"I'm not drunk," I said huffily, then wrapped my arms around his shoulders as _Into the Night_ began to play. "Let's dance!"

"Yes, not drunk at all," said the god sarcastically, but nonetheless wrapped his arms around my waist as we began to slow dance- not to the right song but to me it seemed perfect. "Why don't you tell me a little more about the plan?"

"What plan?" I asked, confused, Tony busy doing god knows what in the corner.

"The plan to stop the Chitauri," the Trickster said patiently. "What were you going to do with me afterwards?"

"I dunno," I replied with a shrug. "Probably give you back to Thor."

"Well that I knew," the god said in irritation.

"Then why did you ask silly?" I giggled again. "You're very stupid sometimes."

That didn't go down well, and Loki seemed to be having some sort of internal battle about whether or not to make me pay for that comment. Finally, he managed to form a forced smile on his face and his grip loosened.

"Do you want me to go back?" he asked.

"Go back where?" I asked, puzzled once more. "To your room?"

"Yes, to my room," he said sarcastically, hands clawing into to my back as he probably imagined killing me.

"Can I come?" I asked, smirking at him in a way that made him respond with disgust. "No need to act that way."

"I should be telling you that," he hissed, then regained his composure. "I meant that would you want me to be taken back to Asgard?"

"Well you have been naughty," I replied with a giggle. "You've got to be punished."

"But what if I changed-" He scowled at me as I burst out laughing, thinking of The _South Park _and Hussein's song. I began singing it rather off key, and I heard Tony singing along as well- who knew he watched it?

"Shut up," snapped the Trickster, and I stuck my tongue out at him childishly.

"Make me," I retorted.

He shoved me away with a snarl, then grabbed hold of my top as he pulled me back again.

"Do not think that I am unwilling to hurt you because I will kill you if you continue with this pathetic and idiotic behaviour," he hissed, then let go of me as he stalked off.

"Huh?"

He stopped suddenly, his hand twitching slightly and warning me even through my intoxicated state that I should run. But before my brain could remember how to do that Loki had come back over, leaning close to me as he snarled at me.

"Are you really that intoxicated that you can't even understand that simple sentence?" he asked, glaring at me. "You mortals are so pathetic!"

"No we're not," I countered, stumbling backwards slightly as I backed out of his way. "You can't hate us like that."

"Why not?"

I furrowed my brow in thought, trying to clear some of the haze and find a decent answer to tell Loki.

"I'm waiting," he said, smirking slightly as he saw me unable to answer.

"One more song," I said, and his smirk changed to a frown.

"What?"

"I can't answer just yet," I pointed out. "I need more time to think- one more song."

He looked like he was about to answer when there the door that led into the nearby bathroom opened and a swarm of Chitauri came out, pointing their weapons at us.

Or me rather, Loki had disappeared quite suddenly and Tony had gone off saying he needed an umbrella.

"Oh crap," I said, realising I was all alone.

**A/N: Just me. :P Wondering if this story has gone bad- I have gotten less reviews on than normal for the last two chapters and wondered if I needed to improve on something. Feel free to tell me if the story is crap- can't say I'll like that but at least I'll know. ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

Nobody could believe it, how could it be possible that it had happened. The plan had been the best they could come up with and it had failed, both Loki and Jess captured by the Chitauri who had managed to get away before the Avengers had got to them. There was shock, dread and anger; surprised by the suddenness of the Chitauri's appearance, and dreading what would happen to Jess now that she was prisoner somewhere they couldn't find her, and anger at Tony since he was closest to her… and at themselves for not getting there fast enough.

They were all sitting in the lunge, the room where only moments ago Tony and Jess had been acting like drunk idiots, as they saw on the security footage, Natasha had come back from her mission early and she and Fury had joined them. Not a word was said until Loki vanished, not captured, he'd just vanished and left Jess to the Chitauri who were quick about taking her down and dragging her through the portal.

"That son of a bitch," was the first comment to be said, unsurprisingly my Tony who had sobered up fast when he'd realised what had happened.

"They didn't even look for Loki," commented Bruce, rubbing at his chin. "I think we've found the reason why Loki was so eager to go through with the plan."

"Loki was working for the Chitauri?" asked Steve, furrowing his brow.

"It's not surprising," said Clint, staring at the now frozen footage. "He's a traitor born."

Thor looked like he wanted to disagree with Clint, but wisely chose to remain silent- this was not the moment for that.

"No, I mean if he's working for the Chitauri then why would they come here?" asked the super soldier. "Wouldn't he be better off getting the Tesseract than Jess?"

"Maybe they already have the Tesseract?" suggested Tony with a wave of his arm. "How are we supposed to know how they think."

"To me, it looks like their target was Miss Attwater," commented Fury, and they all turned to look at him. "Given her… unique origins it wouldn't be surprising if they thought she could be of use to them."

"But she doesn't know anything past the last invasion," pointed out Natasha. "She said that was as far as it went at the moment."

"If the Chitauri are after information they may kill her when they find out she does not possess it," exclaimed Thor. "We must help her!"

"How?" asked Clint. "We don't having that could take us to wherever she is."

"Don't you Asgardians have teleportation?" Tony asked Thor.

"We do," replied the Thunderer. "But unless we know where we are going then it is useless."

There was a long pause, filled with nothing but silence as they tried to think of a way to get to the Chitauri, if not to rescue Jess then at least to stop them from coming back. If they had the Tesseract it needed to be taken bak before they could mount an invasion on a higher scale than the last one.

"We need Loki back," Tony said finally.

/

It's not a nice feeling waking up in a different place than the one you went to sleep in- although I can't say I remember where I went to sleep…. Did I even go to sleep? Instead of a comfy pillow below my head I could only feel something that reminded me of marble- smooth, tough and cool. I opened my eyes quickly and bolted up right, eyes adjusting to the somewhat dark room.

It appeared to be made out of black marble, mixed with a silver metal and had a high up window (hole) which showed space- stars, planets and even that red cloudy stuff. It would have been amazing if I wasn't stuck somewhere with no way of getting home.

That made me pause. Home? Where was that for me? Was it back on my own Earth… or with the Avengers?

"Ah, good- you are awake," I heard a voice say with a chuckle. "I was beginning to think that the Chitauri had killed you."

Chitauri? With a flash it all came back to me- I had been taken by the Chitauri after I let Tony get me drunk. I hope he was the world's worst hangover for that- I'm safe since I don't get them, although that didn't stop my head from throbbing and I reached up to fill a warm, sticky fluid.

"Where am I?" I asked, feeling a little foolish- the man probably didn't have a much of an idea either, only that we were now stuck as prisoners for these aliens.

"I can't say I have much of an idea either," replied the man, moving out of the shadows to come and sit by me. As I healed my cut I almost jumped in surprised as I realised that I recognised the style of clothes he was wearing.

"Are you an Asgardian?" I asked, shocked to see him here. He looked surprised as well that I recognised him and as he opened his mouth the answer, the door (I swear their hadn't been one their before) swung open and a group of Chitauri entered, pointing their weapons at me as they made weird noises I assumed meant to come with them.

I got slowly to my feet, ignoring the weapons being practically shoved in my face and walked out of the room with the Chitauri surrounded me. As soon as we were outside I looked around and almost gasped in amazement, for like where The Other was we were just on floating mounds in space. The cell I was in part of a fairly large building with a long, narrow pathway up to stairs which led up to…

I think it was obvious where those stairs led and I swallowed nervously as we approached the stairs. The Chitauri pointed me in front of them, weapons jabbing in my back as they made me go up the stairs, only two following me as the others went back to the building. My heart in my throat as I slowly climbed the stairs and hoped that the others could find a way to reach me soon.

"Welcome, human," said a familiar voice as I reached the top, the hooded figure standing behind a podium with a ragged cloth covering it- I recognised it as Loki's tattered and torn cape. "How nice of you to join us."

I didn't say anything, just stared defiantly at The Other to let him know that I had no intention of joining his side or betraying any of my friends. He seemed to get the message and chuckled, walking around the podium, his hand trailing over the cloth (I never noticed he had lots of thumbs) before he came to stand in front of me.

"I guess you must be wondering why you are here," he continued, dismissing the other two Chitauri. "Why we brought you here?"

"I'm guessing it has something to do with Loki being a traitor," I said, more a guess than anything and was only half-surprised when The Other confirmed it with a nod.

"You were one half of what was given to us, a fair deal for forgiveness of his earlier mistakes."

"What was the other half?" I dared to ask.

It looked like that was what he had wanted me to ask because he went back over to the podium and with a flourish lifted the cloth, revealing the item.

I was astonished and frightened, looking at it made me truly panic at the thought of what they could do with that.

With the Tesseract.

"Indeed, Loki brought back our prize to us, and as soon as we are ready we will wreak revenge on both Earth and Asgard, said The Other with a chuckle. "But we will make no mistakes this time and the whole force of the Chitauri will be used- this is no longer about any petty grudge that the Trickster may have. This is about honour… and revenge."

I somehow doubted that revenge was high on their list of reasons, probably more to do with the fact that they didn't want the universe knowing they had their butt's handed to them on a silver platter my a handful of humans (Plus one Asgardian).

"In a few days Earth will burn." The Other covered the Tesseract back up. "And there is nothing your pitiful planet can do about it- not when their heroes will be stuck on the other side of space."

It all fell into place in that moment.

It was a trap.

**A/N: Happy Halloween everyone! Thanks for the reviews last time, they motivated me to update fast *hint hint nudge nudge* ;). It's nice to know that you think the story is good, but still feel free to tell me if you think it goes bad. :P**


	12. Chapter 12

They took me back to the cell afterwards, shoving me in and slamming the door shut behind me. I looked behind me and sure enough there was no sign a door had ever been there, it looked for all the world like a wall and was probably as easy enough to open. I walked over to the opposite side, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor and feeling the worry gnawing at my insides.

"You do not look so well," commented my cell mate, who had previously been pacing about and had come to lean against the wall beside me. "Pray tell."

"It's a trap," I said, even the words sounding horrifying. "They brought me here to trap the Avengers."

"The Avengers?" asked my cellmate, brow furrowing before he smiled. "You mean the group that the prince joined? He is quite fond of them."

"So you are an Asgardian?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I was a guard for the weapon's vault," replied the man. "My name is Thialfi."

"Thialfi," I repeated, getting the feel of the name. "I'm Jess."

"It is an honour to meet you," he said, holding my hand up to his mouth so he could kiss it. "And such a shame it is in this prison."

"In a few days this cell is probably going to be the safest place there is," I said glumly, and then told Thialfi all that had happened- I hoped that he would be able to help me.

"Yes, that treacherous Loki led a group of these aliens right into the vault- they killed the other guard and took me prisoner," he explained. "They were no doubt planning on torturing me for information on Asgardian defences."

"Well I think that's been delayed a little," I commented, peering up to the single window which hung there to the left of the door- the part which would lead to a drop through Space. The smoothness of the walls made it impossible to hang on to (Unless you were Spider-Man or something) and even if you did get out there was no doubt a small army of Chitauri here and nowhere to go. "We need to get the Tesseract from away from them."

"I agree, but there are only two of us and we are both unarmed," pointed out Thialfi, a fact I had already thought of.

Now would be a really good time for me to discover another power.

/

There were of course protests, no-one wanted to find the god who had done this and get his help. Who was to say he would even help them anyway? The other option though was to leave Jess in the hands of the Chitauri, and as much as some people preferred her not to be around (Her presence a constant reminder that they were only fiction in another world) they were not going to let her suffer because they couldn't protect her.

"How else do you propose we get there?" said Tony, stopping all protests. It was true, there was no other way to get there- even if the Chitauri hadn't taken the Tesseract. "Or do we plan on letting Jess come up with her own plan to get home."

It was the first time the playboy had called her by her name rather than Crazy Chick, and would probably be the last. It was a sign about how dangerous this situation had got.

"And how do you suggest we find Loki?" asked Fury. "Because if he's really as smart as he thinks he is he'll be long gone and not looking to show his face again."

"Unless this is a trap," pointed out Bruce, they looked at him questioningly before some figured it out.

"They're using Jess as bait to trap us on their side," explained Natasha for those who hadn't.

"And leave Earth defenceless against the whole of the Chitauri army," finished Steve.

"Excuse me- we do have other forces than the Avengers," pointed out Fury. "I'm sure we could survive long enough for you to make a return trip."

"And we can't exactly leave Jess to the Chitauri," agreed Steve.

"We could send only a few," said Thor. "Those who would be able to retrieve Miss Attwater and the Tesseract- if they possess it- without causing an uproar."

"Well that puts the big guy out of consideration," Tony said. "But you might wanna take some firepower just in case."

"I'm going," said Steve without a moment's hesitation. "I've done this kind of thing before."

"Not on an alien planet though," pointed out the billionaire.

"And you have?" countered the soldier.

"Enough," interrupted Fury. "We can't say for sure who we'll need because we have no idea where you'll end up."

"So what do you recommend?" asked Steve.

Everyone looked at Fury expectantly and he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"If there is going to be an invasion then the safety of this planet comes above that of one woman," he finally said. "We're going to need all our forces available if this is to be as bad as she said. No-one, will be going."

/

"Are you sure about this?" Asked Thialfi, looking unsure as he stood below the window. "This is madness."

"Isn't it?" I agreed. "Hold your arms up."

He did so and I ran across, jumping onto his hands as he vaulted me up towards the window which I grabbed and shuffled onto.

Nat and Steve don't own that move.

Thankfully the window was as big as I thought it was and I was able to sit on it with ease. Looking over the edge I could see only a narrow ledge before space appeared- a very weird thing to see and for a moment I was enthralled by what I was looking out.

"How does it look?" asked Thialfi.

"Not good," I replied. "Very not good."

Perhaps you should come back in then, this is foolish."

I swallowed as I shuffled towards the edge of the window.

"Geronimo."

I jumped.


	13. Chapter 13

I'd more slid than jumped actually, so I felt the wall as I fell and hit the small ledge perfectly. Unfortunately, my landings were never really that great and as I landed I nearly toppled over the edge, arms cartwheeling in an attempt not to go through the Loki experience. But I needn't have worried as a hand grabbed mine and pulled me to my feet without sending me over the edge.

I looked over to my so-called rescuer and blinked as I saw Thialfi standing beside me, looking at me with a mixture of worry, annoyance and amusement.

"Are you Midgardians always this reckless?" he asked, looking about wearily in case the Chitauri had noticed our… well, I can't call it an escape, can I? Not yet, anyway.

"I can't speak for everyone, but I will say that we don't like being kidnapped to alien planets," I replied, then asked the question that was circling my mind. "When did you get out of the cell?"

"I was quick to follow when you jumped," he replied, indicating to the drop he added; "I had a feeling you might end up in trouble."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said with a sigh, ignoring the blank look he gave. "Now that we've accomplished part one, we need a part two."

That seemed to worry him slightly and he looked about in case the Chitauri decided suddenly to leap out at us.

"You do not have a plan?" he asked.

"I do what I do with stories," I replied, again he looked at me confused. "Have an idea, have an ending and wing it until I reach said end; In this case, my idea is to get the Tesseract, my ending is to go home with said Tesseract and as to how that will come about I'll come up with a plan as I go along- it makes it easier to deal with unexpected occurrences."

"Like that," said Thialfi pointing out the doors of the building next to the cell which had swung open to allow the Chitauri to exit and cross the long, winding path up to the area where The Other was. A long, steady stream of them- like an ant trail- and I wondered where they could be going. A question which was answered when the familiar form of a portal appeared and the Chitauri began to head through that.

"Okay, next part of the plan is go through the portal before they take the Tesseract and leave us stranded here with The Other," I said, hoping that they wouldn't turn and notice us two standing here like a duo of idiots. "Is that building the TARDIS or something?"

There didn't seem to be an end to the numbers and the building couldn't have held too many without it getting incredibly uncomfortable.

"And how do you know they will take it with them?" enquired Thialfi as I considered the dangers of tackling a few of these guys to the ground and stealing their weapons. Probably not good because I would likely to get my ass killed before I'd got near them- even if I used Thialfi as a human shield, well… Asgardian.

That was a joke, in case you were wondering.

"Well they obviously aren't going to invade Earth, so they must be going to meet up with the rest of the army," I replied, feeling edgy and impatient. "We are stuck in a very small place so this is not likely to be the whole of the army, they also don't seem to have any ships or Leviathans stored here and their trap hasn't worked yet. My guess is that they're relocating to their main base to go through with said plan and will take the Tesseract so they can send their Avenger prisoners here where they will be unable to do any damage."

The Asgardian looked impressed with my figuring this out and I felt proud mixed with annoyance-did people expect me to be an idiot because I wasn't a trained warrior? How insulting.

"So we are to somehow follow them through the portal without being noticed, go to their base without any weapons or backup, somehow get the Tesseract off them and leave before they can catch or kill us," he surmised. "IS that the gist of your plan?"

"Yup," I confirmed.

"And how exactly are we supposed to do this?"

"I told you- make it up as we go along," I replied stubbornly. I had no desire to start coming up with a plan to show how hopeless this idea was- although to be honest it was quite clear from that summary.

"Then I think we'll be waiting until your Avenger friends and the prince are captured," said Thialfi, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

"Lightbulb," I said, an idea hitting me.

Again the Asgardian gave me a bizarre look.

"We sneak inside the building, steal some armour and weapons then wait until there are only a few Chitauri left on this side, take them down and steal the Tesseract," I explained. He gave me an incredulous look, probably doubting my sanity regarding this plan.

"Come on, I thought you Asgardians were supposed to be strong warriors with little common sense," I said to him with a grin, and to my surprise he looked more amused than angry. "Reckless charging and battling are your areas."

"You make it all sound so easy," he commented and I rolled my eyes. "And how will we get in the building with enough time to still be able to catch those last few Chitauri?"

I looked around, there appeared to be only one way into the building… one door at any rate.

"We go that way," I said, indicating to the window (or hole) on one of the supposed upper levels of the building. "I reckon we could easily get onto the roof of the cell."

"Well you will be going first," said Thialfi as he looked up towards said area. "I'll be beneath you in the likely case that you fall."

"Oh ye of little faith," I muttered under my breath as he prepared to help me up to the window again.


	14. Chapter 14

With a lot of effort I managed to climb onto the roof of the cell, first onto the window, and then with a lot of effort and balance from there to the roof. Thialfi promised to catch me if I fell, but given the size of the ledge I wasn't all that hopeful. When it came to his turn, he managed to get up with relative ease, but took my offered hand for extra support on getting onto the roof where we lay flat for a while to make sure that any suspicions that had been roused would fade.

"Now how do we get up to that window?" asked the Asgardian and I looked over. To describe it properly, the cell was like a garage attached to a warehouse- it was a big, long building with window spread about at seemingly odd intervals. It was built of that same marble-like substance, and a sloping roof with what looked like a helicopter landing area towards the back- with a ship there.

Now that seemed like a good weapon to have, a dragonfly spaceship or like one of those X-Wing Fighters from Star Wars with the four long wings in the middle with engines rather than guns- they were attached to the bottom of the front like mandibles.

"How would you feel about stealing that instead," I said, pointing it out to Thialfi. "We shall call it _Dragonfly_ and… it doesn't look like a Chitauri ship."

"Who do you think it belongs to then?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" I protested, looking about for any signs of movement. "It doesn't look like its guarded or anything."

I thought about it- they definitely weren't going to leave the Tesseract here, especially if they were planning to capture the Avengers and then to invade Earth. The best thing to do was to go through the portal, we couldn't stay here if we were to do anything to help anyone and that ship was the best thing to help up- a shield and a sword in one.

"And do you know how to fly that?" he asked, and I grinned at him.

"Of course not," I replied cheerfully. "But there is no better time to learn."

Before he could protest I got to my feet, keeping low though as I crept across the rooftop towards the main building and looking for footing to get up. There was a window past the end of the cell, which would require a small jump and a huge fall if missed. Above that was a row of ridges barely an inch wide which I could use to climb up onto the roof.

I didn't stop to think, knowing it would only panic me and force me to give up this pursuit. But I couldn't, I did practically nothing last time- when it was the movie that played, and I had resolved to do more, to show that I could play the hero should it be required.

With a running start I leapt to the window, my head narrowly missing the side of the window and grabbed hold of both sides in order to stop me from falling. I took a few moments to catch my breath before leaning backwards and reaching upwards to find the ridges. My hands gripped tightly to the smooth surface, inching forwards to find the roof as I stood up slowly and upon finding it gripped tightly.

"Allons-y," I said before pulling myself up.

Or at least trying to, my arms were tired from all the earlier efforts and I was never a person with upper arm strength. It was mainly determination that gave me strength, all my will focusing on getting up and on the roof.

"Are you mad?" asked Thialfi, sitting on the edge of the roof and watching me as I slowly pulled myself upwards.

"Jury's out," I replied, stealing Tony's line and feeling a pang of loss as I thought of the playboy. With one final heave I pulled myself up and crawled onto the roof with some relief, waiting for Thialfi to join me as I massaged my aching muscles. "Wasn't that fun?"

"I think and hope you meant that sarcastically," Thialfi commented as he sat next to me. "Otherwise I might question your interpretation of fun."

"And I might question your actions," I countered, and he looked at me with confusion. "From what I've seen of Asgardians you don't act like them."

"And you would know how all Asgardians act?" he pointed out and I faltered slightly. He was right, I shouldn't presume things- things like gods who lived in basically a long past era and who were supposed to be battle-loving warriors should act as such. "Besides, sometimes the lie is preferable to the truth."

It took a moment for the words to register- hadn't I said those exact words to…

I looked after Thialfi as he got up and head on his was way towards the ship.

"Wait up," I said, jumping up- nearly slipping off the roof in the process and hurrying after him. It was a slow progress though, neither of our us had shoes that were made for gripping onto this stuff and there were many slips and slides before we reached the platform. "It looks smaller up close."

Thialfi nodded in agreement, following me now as I went over to the open hatch to see if anyone was inside. It was empty.

"It feels like a trap," said the Asgardian as he climbed inside, checking properly before allowing me to come up and join him. "Why would they leave this ship unattended and open?"

"Because they think they have nothing to worry about?" I guessed, and made my way over to sit in the pilots seat. In front of me was a touch screen, rows of buttons and the familiar control, steering thingy (I had no idea what it's called)- basically like a two handled joystick with two buttons on the top. Holding said stick, I moved it about experimentally and say the wings move about, the engines at the end rotating slightly as well. "I'm guessing this is meant to me manoeuvrable.

"Do you have any clue as to how to fly this?" asked Thialfi as he took the seat next to me, looking across the alien writing with confusion. "It would not do well for our escape if we could not get off the ground."

I huffed, pushing a button which I hoped close the hatch- and it did. Now to turn it on, I looked to see a red button and a green one- two buttons which brought a familiar conflict into my mind. One probably would start this thing and the other… who knew what it would do.

Deciding it was safer to go with the green button. There was a whining noise that lasted only a few seconds, but nothing otherwise happened and I drummed the dashboard impatiently.

"Well that was a waste of-" my comment was cut off as I accidently pressed one of the buttons on the stick-thing and a burst of energy shot out the gun, making a nice hole in the roof. "My bad."

I pressed the red button quickly, which was the correct one as it turned out and the engines hummed into life- the ones underneath this thing anyway and it slowly climbed into the air until it was hovering about a couple of metres above the ground. Chitauri could be seen rushing up onto the roof on the stairs in front of us (I'm thinking we should have taken an indoor route) and I angled the nose down before firing the guns again, collapsing the roof above them.

"You are a skilled pilot," commented the Asgardian, just as the lower two wings hit the roof with a loud clang and I pulled up quickly to avoid us crashing. "Never mind."

The engines attach too the wing came to life when I moved the joystick, speedily propelling us upwards and sometimes sideways as I came to grips with the controls.

"Thank god for all those movies and games," I commented as I managed to get it moving forwards, flying past the building in a matter of seconds and turning it around as we overshot the portal. The Chitauri were all screeching at us, firing their weapons and dodging as I fired our own. "Is it wrong to enjoy this?"

"Verily."

The ship must have been equipped with a force field or something- not an unfeasible idea here- because I couldn't feel anything hitting _Dragonfly_ although it- or she I suppose- shook as the two guns at the front fired alternatively, each taking a few seconds to charge and recharge.

"Do we have anything… faster?" I questioned, looking at the array of buttons and the screen. "Try searching on that screen."

"And how do you expect me to know what it says?" he countered.

"Guess! Look for pictures, use your gut instinct," I said, firing the big guns again. "I can't fly this thing and surf the web at the same time."

There was a loud explosion and the ship shook horrendously, for a second I saw a blue-transparent thing flash around us as fire engulfed _Dragonfly_. I guess we did have force fields.

"Anytime now would be nice," I said, banking sharply to the left as another missile shot past us. "Since when did Chitauri have bazookas?"

I looked over to the screen Thialfi was attempting to navigate and spotted an image that looked helpful. I clicked it and the whole ship vibrated before something small and round shot out of the nose and hit the winding path, there was a pause before a huge explosion destroyed it and sent us reeling back with its shockwaves.

"How did you know what that would do?" asked Thialfi as he looked over, the path gone leaving many Chitauri stranded next to the building.

"I didn't, it looked like something that might go boom though," I replied. "We'd better get to that portal though, it'll be closing any second now."

Sure enough, the portal seemed to shiver slightly before shrinking, and without waiting I turned the ship around and headed straight towards it. Ignoring the weapons aimed at us, the rocks which partially shielded it and the fact that I was a rookie pilot I went straight for it. There was a loud screech as we skimmed the rocks, the whole ship shaking before we bounced off the ground slightly and went through it.

"Well that was easy," I commented.

That's when I noticed the huge army camp, thousands of ships, leviathans and seemingly millions of Chitauri marching across this barren planet.

"Oh crap."


	15. Chapter 15

The portal opened out onto the wide, barren plain of some far off planet. Thousands of Chitauri –millions- could be seen marching up and down in ranks, leviathans were getting armoured up and all other sorts of ships were coming and going- including several of those huge ones that Tony blew up with a nuke. I could barely see the ground for all the activity going about and a shiver ran down my spine as I realised my ship was the odd one out.

"We're doomed," I said, pulling up quickly as the troops on the ground began to shoot at us. "How are we supposed to get the Tesseract now?"

Scanning through the buttons I looked for anything that would make the _Dragonfly_ go faster as a few of the smaller Chitauri ships began to chase after us.

Well… I say 'us'.

I looked over in shock to see that Thialfi had gone, risking a quick glance behind me it became apparent that he was not in the ship.

"Okay, that can't be good," I commented, pressing a button experimentally. There was a whistling noise as a flare shot out the nose and I mentally smacked myself. "That is so not what I need right now."

Deciding to go for the noob gamer routine, I pressed every single button- except for those I knew the purpose of- and hoped to god that one of them would make this thing go faster. I discovered several things about the ship during those moments- the row of buttons along the bottom of the screen changed the weapon, one button- which I hated- separated the joystick into four parts to control the individual wings and even one which switched on some headlights under the windscreen (Or spacescreen if you prefer).

The smaller ships were catching up fast, so thinking quickly I cut off the engines, allowing the ship to fall down past the others and made sure to angle it downwards before turning on the engines again. I pulled up in time to miss the ground, using this opportunity to fire my new found lasers- ones which fired a successive stream of fire and took down the Chitauri with ease.

"Where is that Tesseract?" I muttered to myself, looking about for signs of the glow cube (and Thialfi whilst I was at it) but couldn't see it. They'd closed off the portal as well which meant I was stranded here, sure to be killed if I couldn't find a way back soon.

As if on cue, a larger ship fired at me and the shockwaves sent the _Dragonfly_ hurtling sideways. I looked around desperately for any sign of the Tesseract and almost jumped in glee as I saw a portal opening in the distance. A red light began flashing warningly but I ignored it as I sped towards it and hoped that Thialfi was there.

Another hit, but this time the lower left wing was shot off and the ship began to veer to the left slightly. I tried to keep it heading towards the portal, gritting my teeth and persevering onwards until another shot was fired. This one hit the back of the _Dragonfly_ and destroyed it, suction trying to pull me out as it shot towards the ground.

I relaxed my muscles before impact- well as much as I could with the imminent threat of pain- remembering that it would lessen the pain and remembered at the moment to unclench my teeth as the ship hit the ground with an almighty crash. The impact threw me against the controls, winding me and making my ears ring. For a few moments I remained there, not daring to move until I was breathing normally and could think straight. Finally, with a groan I sat back up and placed my hands to my temple as I soothed the aches throughout my body.

Looking out the cracked screen I looked around to spot where the portal was, but the area where it had appeared before was empty and I guessed it must have closed. Judging from the sounds though the army of Chitauri were still here, and battling something that wasn't me or the ship. For a moment I thought it was Thialfi, but there was a loud roar and the sound of something being… well, smashed.

"Please don't say they're here," I muttered to myself as there was a banging on top of the ship before whoever- or whatever- it was discovered the giant hole in the back and came inside.

"Miss Attwater!" exclaimed a familiar voice, to which I could help but smile to even if we had met again under such dire circumstances. I turned to face the Asgardian as he walked over with a grin on his face and the other Avengers- minus the Hulk or course- following behind him. "We thought you captive of these creatures."

"You stole one of their ships?" asked Tony, the face panel on his armour sliding up to reveal his impressed face- more at the technology of the _Dragonfly_ than the fact that someone with no prior experience in flying was able to work an alien ship with some ease. Even I was surprised by how naturally it had come to me.

"I didn't steal it," I huffed, trying to hide my grin. "I borrowed it without permission and with no intention of returning it."

"That sounds like stealing to me," commented Steve as he came in, smiling warmly at me. "It's good to see you again, ma'am."

"Which we would never have done if we hadn't disobeyed Fury," added Clint as he came in, offering me a nod as he and Nat joined the rest. "And if Loki hadn't been so… kind."

He said the last part a bit stiffly, still not forgiving of the god and I frowned slightly. But hadn't Loki been… However, any concerns were momentarily forgotten as happiness welled up in me- they had disobeyed Fury to come and rescue me. I was so happy to see them all and for a moment I enjoyed it, but then reality burst through and I knew we had to leave.

"It's a trap," I said quickly, continuing before they could interrupt me. "They lured you over here to stop you from defending Earth and Asgard when they invade."

"They will invade Asgard?" Thor asked sharply. "We cannot let that happen."

"No-one is going to let us happen- besides, they'd have to take us down to get on to invading and even if we can't handle them all we can at least make a dent in their numbers," said Steve in that typical heroic style.

I shook my head.

"This isn't where they mean to trap you," I said. "They have another place, where they held me and it is nothing but an island in Space."

I described to them the place that I was talking about, but they didn't seem too bothered by it all.

"They can't exactly open it without the Tesseract," pointed out Tony. "And we don't plan on letting them have it."

I did want to believe them, but I had seen the vastness of the army and remembered that the invasion of Earth had only ended because of the nuke to their mother ship. But there were no nukes here and so many more Chitauri, if before was hard then this was hopeless.

"Believe it or not we have a plan," continued the playboy. "The Hulk is out there providing a distraction, we already have you and we just need the Tesseract so we can get back."

"You make it sound so easy," I commented and he grinned at me before becoming more serious.

"Glad to see you're in one piece, Crazy Chick," he said, before grinning again. "I think when we get back we should have some take-out, perhaps pizza- I haven't had that in a while now that I think about it."

"How about we focus on the mission at hand before we think about dinner." Offered Natasha, speaking for the first time. "And about what we're going to say to Fury when we get back."

"How about 'Hey Fury, we got the Tesseract and Crazy Chick so the world's safe'," replied Tony.

"Perhaps we should get back to the battle," interrupted Thor. "I believe the Chitauri are on their way here."

Clint looked out through the hole.

"He's right, a large group have broken off and are heading towards this ship," he informed us.

"How many?" asked Steve.

"Couple of thousand."

"Not too many then," commented Tony, his face panel closing. "Me and Point Break can handle these guys, you lot focus on getting the Tesseract."

He and Thor left, leaving us behind.

"How about we get this thing up in the air," said Steve, looking at the panels in confusion. "Think you can handle this Hawkeye."

"If a rookie could handle her then I'll have no problem," he replied, taking the pilots seat as I moved on to the other. He looked over at me and for the first time I saw something in his expression that wasn't dislike. "You flew this thing?"

"As best as I could," I replied earnestly, flushing slightly.

"You did a good job," replied Steve.

"Not good enough, I failed to save the _Dragonfly_," I said, and Clint grinned slightly. "That's its name."

"Suits her," was all Steve said as Clint started up the engines, the ship shuddering into life and lifting with some effort into the sky. "Now let's go get the Tesseract."


	16. Chapter 16

Clint flew this ship a lot better than me, even with one of its wings destroyed and a giant hole in the back. I moved to sit in the back seats as Nat joined him in the front and peered out of the back as Cap joined me.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, seemingly not wanting the two agents to overhear. "You don't look so good."

"I'd feel better if we could just get back," I agreed, gripping the seat tightly as the ship jerked suddenly, one of my hands brushing against his. "Sorry."

"Its fine," he replied with a smile and shifted to hold it properly. "Don't worry- we'll definitely get back."

I squeezed his hand as I swallowed nervously, all the determination and ardour of my previous efforts having drained me emotionally and physically. Hoping that this would all be over soon so we could get back and forget this all ever happened, that the Chitauri forces here would never reach Earth and we could all sit back and laugh about this.

"We've spotted the Tesseract," Clint said and we both jumped up, standing behind their seats as we looked through the cracked screen. Sure enough, in the distance there could be seen the familiar blue glow of the cube. "It's time to get our ride home."

As he spoke, another red light began to flash on the dashboard and the one remaining wing on the left side shuddered, the engine beginning to smoke violently. With that engine failing even Clint was having difficulty making the ship stay straight and it began to spin violently as it headed towards the ground.

"Déjà vu anyone?" asked Steve as we crashed into the ground again, hitting a regiment of Chitauri as we landed.

I was less prepared this time and felt my bones rattle in my body as we hit the ground. Within moments the Chitauri hoards were clambering onto the ship, Nat and Steve pulling me behind them as they started to battle, Clint preparing his bow and arrows as we forced them out and onto the open ground.

"Stay close," Clint told me as he began firing off arrows and I nodded wordlessly as I stood next to him, looking around for some sort of weapon I could use to defend myself. A Chitauri dropped dead by my foot and I picked up the long, thin gun that I had often seemed them using.

I'd never really told anyone, or given it any serious thought before, but I found that the killing of Chitauri didn't bother me. I figured though that it was because they weren't, and indeed didn't look, very human- instead more like hideous monsters. Loki I'd only been able to blast because I was ticked off at the time, but I don't think I could hurt another person.

All this I contemplated as I shot at them, many of the shots hitting their armour and doing nothing except to ward them off slightly.

"I can't see why Fury wanted to send you back," Clint said to me, in a tone that was usually reserved for talking about trivial things such as the weather. "You're very… adaptive to these situations."

"Finding out you're in a fictional world tends to do that to you," I replied in the same tone. "Makes everything else less shocking."

We were now fully surrounded by the Chitauri and struggling to make fast progress to the Tesseract.

"Do you have a plan?" Nat asked Steve, who had copied my idea and had took one of ther weapons to stop them venturing too close. "Because we're in trouble here."

"They're sending the ships over," I told the others as those bizarre two-man… bikes or whatever sped over. "Quite a few of them."

"Big trouble," corrected Nat and she fired at one, smoke erupted out the bottom before it exploded and knocked another out of the sky.

"And a Leviathan is making its way over," I observed, watching the large creature snake its way here, its fins skimming the heads of the advancing army.

"Really big trouble."

Obviously we weren't going to be going anywhere soon and we formed a circle as we took out advancing troops. But there were plenty to replace the ones we shot and it soon began to feel very hopeless.

"You might want to put this on," said Steve, handing me an earpiece which I quickly put on.

"You only just gave it to her?" I heard Tony say. "And we put you in charge."

"You could give us a hand over here," interrupted Nat before they could start an argument. "We have a Leviathan and several ships making their way over."

"Well I'm trying to take down the mother ships," countered the playboy, and I wanted to punch him as the space around us grew ever smaller. "Ask Blondylocks to help you."

That was when something large and green bolted towards us, ploughing through the Chitauri and vaulting over our heads to land on top of the Leviathan.

"Getting the Tesseract is our priority now Stark, which will be hard to accomplish once the Chitauri have killed us," pointed out Nat. "Get over here."

The genius could be heard sighing before I saw the flash of his armour head towards us, Repulsors firing at the army as he approached. Clouds began to swirl overhead, thunder booming and lightning flashing across the sky.

"That's very nice," I said as it began to rain heavily.

Sorry Miss Attwater, said Thor over the com- who knew he knew how to use it.

"It's fine," I replied with a sigh. "It's a very dramatic way to battle."

"Think we'll win an Oscar?" Tony asked, and shot overhead before coming to land next to us.

"Duck."

We all hit the floor as he used the move he had in Iron Man 2, the red lasers cutting overhead and taking out quite a few of them. There were explosions in the distance as lightning struck down the larger of the ships and the Hulk smashed anything that got too close.

The Chitauri were all hissing and screeching, the rain pouring down and explosions left, right and center. I could barely make out anything with all this noise and relied more on instinct to find the aliens that were most likely to be a threat as they advanced. The ones which gave no thought to their own safety as they leapt to attack us.

"You look like you could use a little help," I heard a voice whisper in my ear. I turned to look but could see nothing but Steve battling several of the aliens. But I didn't have to see the person to know who it was. "Your so-called healing power… it is your magic."

Magic? I had magic? I felt a sense of elation momentarily, but knew that the knowledge wouldn't be much use to me- I wasn't suddenly going to become an all powerful magician. And as if sensing my… dubiousness, a hand grabbed mine and for a split second I wondered what was going on when I felt a sudden weight appear.

"A weapon worthy for my apprentice," whispered the voice.

Apprentice? Since when had I agreed to that. I looked down at my hand and in shock realised that the weapon I had been given was none other than Loki's sceptre. In its mini form. It felt like it was humming with power and for a moment I stared at it before holding it up, firing at the Chitauri.

The ones that had dodged the blast had spotted it and were backing away with a hiss, obviously recognising it and its potential brainwashing capabilities. They didn't know that I had no clue about hot to do that, unless it was just a simple case of poking them in which case beware, and I decided to use that to my advantage as I ran in the direction of the Tesseract, the Chitauri parting as I fired off a few blasts but trying to attack my back which I couldn't defend.

"You're playing a dangerous game here."

I looked to see that Thialfi had reappeared at my side, his green eyes seeming to flash with glee and amusement.

"Care to cover me?" I asked, and the amusement spread to the rest of his face and he fell in step behind me.

"What are you doing?" demanded Steve over the com, making me flinch at the loudness- I'd forgot I turned it up. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"As we all are if we don't get the Tesseract," I countered. "Besides, the stick of destiny is driving them away by just being here."

Obviously only Stark got the reference and for a moment I thought he might spill the beans on that one.

"She'll be fine, Cap," he said. "I think Rock of Ages is finally ready to help."

That he is I thought as I looked back at Thialfi and shook my head in wonder. Sometimes I wondered if his being obvious was all on purpose.

"Good luck," said Tony. "Hopefully you'll do a better job of getting it than I did- they've got that barrier up again."

I just grinned, the realisation that we would be going home soon spurring me on and the fact that we could now win.

"Time to get our ride home."


	17. Chapter 17

I could see what Tony meant as I approached; the Tesseract placed on a rocky outcrop with a shield of 'pure energy' surrounding it and several Chitauri moving to stand guard with their weapons ready. They knew what the weapon in my hands was and they knew what it would do from experience. But unlike their comrades they did not back away from the sight of the sceptre and instead remained strong, not even bothering to wipe the rain from their faces.

"Did you really think that you could beat us?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as The Other made his appearance, not at all threatened by the bizarre alien though I felt Thialfi stiffen as he stood next to me and guessed I shouldn't be fooled. And although I couldn't see his eyes, I could tell that The Other was looking over the sceptre and instinctively gripped it tighter.

There were a few moments of tension filled silent before his attention was taken over to Thialfi who once again stiffened under it.

"Once again you betray us," said The Other, starting to make his way over but stopped when I pointed the weapon at him in warning. The Chitauri held up their own in response but he warned them off with a wave of his hand. "You would protect this traitor? Do you know who he truly is?"

"Loki," I said, in a tone which warned him not to speak down to me. "And yes I will defend him."

I could feel Loki's gaze on me and saw out of the corner of his eye that he dissolved the illusion and went back to being himself. Again there was a shuffle as those surprised raised their weapons and were again put down.

"He is the God of Lies on your planet, a master manipulator and has several times tried to kill you," began the Other, taking a few steps forward. "And yet you would protect his back and hope he does the same? It won't be long until you feel the cold blade of a knife slip between your ribs human and then you will see the error of your ways."

"As you pointed out he already did," I replied pointedly. "Although the first time his actions were being influenced and the second he had no intention of killing me."

"And what makes you believe those lies?"

"Well the first time his eyes were blue- and I know for a fact they're green," I explained. "So he was at least partially not in control of his actions."

"And for the latter?"

Here I looked at Loki, whose face was blank and showed no signs of confirming or denying my actions and I turned back to look at The Other.

"The second time he slit my stomach, however the cut was relatively shallow compared to what it could have been and made it easy for me to live seeing as Thor was there and could take me straight away to Asgard."

Whether I was right about his intentions or not I had no clue, but I felt confident saying them and watching the moments hesitation as he considered my words.

"Have you grown fond of this mortal, Trickster?" he asked. "She who's world showed you the truth about your future and made it so you can never be happy again?"

That was a shocker- Loki had been to my world? When he fell through that wormhole had he arrived in my world and it was that which showed him he was nothing more than fiction? Was my world the reason for his actions?

"I must admit that she intrigues me," Loki replied coolly. "And why would I want to kill so unique a specimen? A mortal, after all I've done, who would still trust me and who would treat me as an equal."

He didn't sound too pleased with the latter half, and I wondered if this looking down on mortals things was because he hated the idea of us making his future for him.

"You've become weak- just like your brother," said The Other and for a moment it looked like Loki was ready to grab the sceptre from me and shove it down his throat. "And all because of a mortal female."

Yes, because Thor stabbed Jane and treats her like she is beneath him. The worst that guy ever did to her is a put a dent in her truck and steal all her Pop Tarts.

"Do you feel a kinship with her? Her struggle to be seen as an equal in the eyes of her fellow mortals but looked down upon because she can never truly be one of them? Her history making it impossible for her?"

Since when was I struggling to be 'seen as an equal'? Most of the time I was struggling not to strangle Tony for calling me Crazy Chick and being a general pain. But that wasn't the point that most appealed to me and there was no way I was going to remain silent this time.

"It's not impossible," I interrupted and both of them looked at me. "Sure he thinks it is because of our stories and whatnot. But as any writer knows the story is told by the characters and in the end it is them who decide their future."

Seriously, when I wrote my fanfics I used to have a good plot and ending in mind which would always end up changing because the characters had their own ideas about how it was going to go.

"And right now this character is taking the Tesseract and going home," I said, then fired a blast at The Other who ran away and let his lackey's take the hit for him.

Now they were all swarming on us and we both fought valiantly as I made my way over to the Tesseract, ignoring the shots as they skimmed me and Loki, who stood at my back as we fought.

"Any time now would be nice," He said loudly, over the sounds of the battle and in the quick reprieve from battling I shoved the sceptre at the Tesseract and watched in mixed horror and frustration as it simply bounced off.

"We've got a bit of a problem," I informed him and tried again so that he could see what kind of problem that was.

"Well solve the problem," snapped the Trickster.

I looked down at the sceptre, then at my hand as a sudden thought hit me. Loki said I had magic, right? And magic was energy? So if my magic- that felt odd to say- was close enough to match the Tesseract's then shouldn't I be able to reach through the barrier?

It was a very small chance that I happened to have magic on a similar frequency to the Tesseract's, but if I was right then that was why the portal had appeared in my bedroom of all places. So I took a deep breath as I prepared for what was likely to be a very painful experience and shoved my hand through the barrier, grabbing hold of the glow cube.

The pain was intense, it felt as though the energy was frying my hand and I could have sworn I smelt burning flesh. I thought for a moment that I was going to go the way of the Red Skull, but instead it was like a more painful version of my first meeting with a portal. The energy lapped up my arm, the Tesseract beginning to glow more violently as my hand approached it. Pouring molten metal through my skin would have been less agonising pure energy surging up from the Tesseract as I grabbed it and tried to pull it from its home.

I collapsed to my knees from the pain but still did not release the Tesseract, although it was probably not entirely possible that I could, and heard a voice shouting at me.

"Let go of the Tesseract!"

I couldn't tell who it was, whether it was friend or foe, either way I was going to ignore it. We needed the Tesseract, we needed it to stop the Chitauri, we needed it to get home and no amount of pain was going to stop me from getting it. I gritted my teeth. Took a deep breath. And pulled. The Tesseract flew free of its prison and fell with me as I collapsed to the ground. The pain slowly faded away. I lay there for a few seconds, watching as Loki knelt over me with a frown on his face.

"What just happened?" I asked, but he ignored the question and instead pulled me to my feet.

"I think we'd best save the questions until we get away from this place," he said and I nodded with agreement.

"Time to go," I said, grabbing hold of Loki as I used The now calm Tesseract to teleport us other to where the Avengers were, Thor was with them now- and the Hulk.

"I see you've got our ride," said Tony cheerfully as he used his unibeam on advancing forces. He didn't act particularly bothered, but his armour now had several dents and sometimes the eyes flickered ever so slightly. "And Loki- so let's go already."

So I activated the Tesseract, knowing on instinct how to do it- Loki's hand on my wrist as he transferred me the knowledge through magic- and within seconds that familiar blue light was rushing past us as we made our way home. I could have sworn I heard The Other's shout above the noise and allowed myself a smile as it faded.

It looked like this time I had got a chance to be a hero.


	18. Chapter 18

Fury was furious.

He'd been lecturing all of us (Why did I have to get lectured?) about disobeying orders, irresponsible behaviour (… That one might have applied) and letting a wanted war criminal escape. Though in all honesty in that one Loki had left mere moments after we had arrived and we were all to busy celebrating being alive to notice.

We hadn't even time to dry ourselves off or change are clothes and we all looked like we had gone swimming in a dirty lake. All of us except Stark that was who sat there looking smug as the rest of us suffered the uncomfortable-ness of it all. Coulson had come into the room and whisked us of to the Helicarrier where Fury had proceeded to live up to his name.

"Whoa, calm down- we got the Tesseract didn't we?" intervened Tony. "And Crazy Chick."

"They can still get it back- did you bother to find their other device?" pointed out Fury.

"We will increase the guard in the vault," said Thor, who was once again to take the Tesseract back to Asgard. "Now that we know of their plans it will be a more manageable task to keep them at bay."

My moment of glory over, I was sitting back into my chair and fiddling with a burn hole in my jacket. I somehow felt it was my fault Loki had got away, because I knew he would leave and he would have been a fool not to leave straight away. But I also wasn't bothered by the fact, Loki may have gotten me captured in the first place but he also gave the means to go home and stuck with us till the end.

That earned him a little freedom at least.

Asides from the occasional interruptions- mainly from Tony- Fury got through his lecture without anyone protesting or complaining. All of us were hoping he wouldn't take too long to dismiss us so we could get back to the tower and finally relax.

When he was done, he gave us all a stern glare before dismissing us.

"Miss Attwater, I'd like to speak to you privately," said Fury, and I remained in my seat as the others left.

"I hear you have magic now," he said, when the door had slid shut behind them. I didn't say anything, getting the feeling he didn't want me to. "From the sounds of it there was a reason the Tesseract- and outside forces- brought you here, other than a distraction."

The others must have been listening over the com and figured out what I had. On his fall, Loki had dropped by my world and began to hate us mortals because of the comics. So in some sort of temper tantrum he had opened up a portal to connect our two worlds and it had connected to my world because my magic signature resonated with its own (I wondered if other people from my world had dormant magic).

"And from the sound of it, you displayed some impressive battle skill and tactical knowledge," he continued, and I guessed this was one of those 'but' or 'so' moments. "So…I'd like to invite you to join SHIELD."

I was literally slack-jawed from shock. Had Fury _really _just asked me to join SHIELD?

"Wait, so you don't want to send me back this time?" I asked cautiously and he shook his head.

"I thought it would be better to send you back as it's unwise to keep a civilian around superheroes," he explained. "But you've shown now that you have the capacity become a good agent."

Well duh, Thor had already told me I'd be a good warrior. You should have listened to him.

"Of course, being an agent of SHIELD isn't fun and games," he continued. "You will be put through rigorous training and exercises, and in this job a mistake could likely cost you your life. So I'd think carefully before you make this decision, after all, you srill have to make the decision about whether or not you want to stay."

That got me. It was true I hadn't answered the question about whether I was or wasn't going to stay and that was another thing I'd have to think carefully about. I'd had a chance to experience both lives again but in the end I was going to have to choose one or another and I couldn't get this wrong or I'd spend the rest of my life in misery.

With that, Fury dismissed me and I headed on my way out to the Quinjet which had brought us here. Everyone was on board except for Steve who was waiting just outside as he waited for me and smiled broadly when he saw me coming.

"Ready to go?" he asked, and I nodded as we went inside. He didn't ask what Fury had wanted to talk to me about, and neither did anyone else though I could tell Tony was almost dying too. I half-wondered if the two agents knew, but if they did they didn't give anything away as we went back to Stark Tower.

/

As Tony had promised earlier on during the battle, he ordered pizza- almost every kind of pizza it seemed- and we all sat back in the lounge in clean clothes, choosing films- or movies as they said- and just having a lazy night in. Bruce had taken one of the armchairs, Nat the other with Clint perched on the arm, the rest of us went to sit on the sofa, which wouldn't seat all four pf us so I solved it by sitting on the playboy's lap- much to his amusement and Steve's discomfort.

Tony had a huge collection of films and put the responsibility of choosing the first one on my shoulder. I thought about it a bit before choosing _War Horse_ and smacking Tony playfully across the head when he said it was bound to be boring.

He changed his mind afterwards though.

We went through several films, generally not moving even as it got late into the night, but after awhile Bruce excused himself and went to bed, the two agents followed shortly and when Tony chose _Saw_ Steve was quick to follow. So it was just Tony, Thor and me- I had moved off the genius's lap and now sat between him and the Thunderer, who was engrossed in the film.

"So what did Fury want to talk to you about?" he asked, looking at me with curiosity. "He wasn't trying to send you back again was he?"

"No, he…" I hesitated slightly. "He asked me to join SHIELD."

"…Seriously?" He didn't seem that surprised, more interested. "And what did you say?"

"He gave me time to think about it- and about whether or not I want to stay," I replied, picking at my trousers. Tony sensed my distress and sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"If there were no consequences to your actions, which world would you choose?" he asked.

"This one," I said without a moment's hesitation. "But there will be consequences and it doesn't feel right to leave everyone behind."

By this time Thor had become distracted enough from the film to notice that I was upset and looked at Tony accusingly.

"Why have you upset Miss Attwater?" he demanded, and Tony responded with a look of disbelief.

"I didn't do anything," he replied and to prove it pulled me in to a hug, rubbing my back. "Look, no-one will blame you whatever you choose so stop beating yourself up about it. If you think that you'll be happier here then stay, I'm sure we could always get Thor to drop off a message to explain it- not a completely truthful one mind you or they'll think you're crazy."

He quickly let go and went back to watching the film looking uncomfortable, probably not used to comforting someone and Thor, understanding the situation now, patted me gently on the knee.

"The Man of Iron is right," he said simply before going back to watching the film.

Tony was right, the only thing that was really holding me back from staying was the fact I didn't want to leave everyone in my old life behind with reason- and I also didn't want that reason to be because I was an Avengers fan just trying to be close to her favourite characters. But I could no longer say that anyway after to getting to know them properly and spending time with them.

I could honestly say that it was not a selfish reason that I wanted to stay; I had a better life here- a more exciting one with great friends and possibly soon a great job. Sure this meant I would be battling dangerous enemies now, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

I was going to stay. I was going to stay and I was going to accept Fury's offer.

Agent Jessica Attwater- I liked the sound of that.

THE END

**A/N: OMG it's over. D: I can't believe it, I'm so evil like that.**

**But have no worries because I like this character and I will write lots more stories with her in- especially since there are a lot of epic upcoming films. **

**I think I'll do a sequel to this though that shows her time in SHIELD , the Avengers and Loki (Let's face it, he was bound to come back ;).) Maybe it will be up soon, maybe it won't, and maybe I'll post a collection of oneshots if there are a few scenarios floating around out there that people want to see.**

**But thank you all for reading and reviewing.**

**I'll see you soon (hopefully)- KF.**


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

* * *

Many months had passed since I had made that decision, and I could honestly say that I hadn't regretted it one bit. Sure I got homesick quite a bit, and almost all my time was filled up with training and whatnot. But I really enjoyed being here and was glad to be doing something important with my life. Fury had helped to make my existence in this world official and I'd celebrated by moving out of Stark tower and finding my own place. Tony still offered me financial support though and Steve had even helped me take all the furniture up (It was a penthouse apartment and the lift was temporarily broken). But anyway, soon enough I was leading a somewhat normal and independent life.

After spending a few weeks waiting for his brother to reappear- or even the Chitauri- Thor had headed back to Asgard. A few days later Bruce departed to wherever it was he was going too and Tony went back to his mansion in Malibu with Pepper in tow. As for the two agents, I saw them regularly at the Helicarrier (when they weren't on missions) and as for Steve... I saw him quite a lot actually,he kept his promise to help me train so we went to the gym quite a lot and he'd then come over to my apartment where I would -try- to help him get up to speed with the 21st century. We became quite good friends, both feeling out of place in this world and so naturally coming together.

But not like that. We're only friends.

In time I gained another... friend, and this one was more of a surprise than anything else.

After a particularly hard day of training, I had returned home with the intention of just diving onto my bed and not moving until the next day. Apparently though, the universe had other ideas because I walked through the front door to see steam escaping from the open door of the bedroom and the sound of the shower could be heard. I was at a loss about what to do because none of my training had prepared me for a thief who breaks into apartments for a shower and there was nothing to indicate how they had got in in the first place. From what I could tell all the windows were intact and there was no signs of any forced entry on the door.

In the end I decided to actually see who the burglar was first before I took to action and slowly crept towards my bedroom door. By this time the shower had been switched off, yet I could not hear anyone walking about so continued onwards and hoped I wasn't about to get blinded by someones ass.

"Why are you creeping about?"

I jumped, swiveling about to face the intruder and coming into contact with the familiar smirking face of a certain Mr Whiskers... who was wearing only a towel around his waist and was dripping wet from the shower. Evidently he was the one who had broken in, which I supposed explained a lot.

"Why were you having a shower?" I asked, one of many questions swirling about in my head and he looked at me as though I were a moron.

"Well you don't expect me to remain filthy do you?" he asked, walking past me and heading back into the bedroom. "Now leave me so I can get changed."

That was how it all started, with the God of Mischief using my shower, not exactly your every day situation I'd imagine. It managed to get weirder of course seeing as he had no idea how to use a hairdryer- or indeed what it was- but had become fascinated by it and had 'ordered' me to show him how to use it. Thus the entrance of a situation which had me drying his hair whilst the TV played on in the background. It gave me a chance to ask some more questions of him and so I did.

"So what are you doing?" I asked, running the brush through his hair, wondering if him and Thor had hair... stylists on Asgard. "I mean here- in my apartment."

"Well I did promise to teach you did I not?" he pointed out. "The services you provide will be considered payment."

"Services?" I was unable to keep my mind momentarily out of the gutter and blushed ever so slightly.

"Clothes, food and a place to stay when I require it," he explained. "Midgardian clothes of course, I can hide easily among you mortals."

"Good to know," I replied, then hesitated slightly. "What about what happened with me and the Tesseract. What was that about?"

"You haven't figured it out?" asked the Trickster, turning to look at me. "You already know that the Tesseract and you have a similar magic, do you not? Well somehow you either absorbed or it gave you some of its power."

"I absorbed the Tesseracts power?" I asked in surprise, looking down at my hands as though I expected lighting to shoot out of them or something. "So what does that mean for me exactly?"

"I'm not sure, but that is something we will discover together."

"Together?" I repeated. "Why's that?"

Loki looked straight at me; "Because I'm going to teach you magic."


	20. AN Sequel

**A/N: I forgot to mention on here that I've put up a sequel to this story, set in The Amazing Spider-Man. The story is called A Case of Identity and I hope you'll start reading it if you haven't already. :)**

**Plus there is a oneshot up that is more drabble than anything else, but still...**

**Feel free to offer up ideas. :)**

**Thank you to everyone who has supported me with these stories I love you all and shower you in virtual candy. :)**


End file.
